on monday, walden bello was arrested on cyber libel charges in what was widely viewed as a politically case. walden's arrest comes just weeks after the inauguration of the philippines new president ferdinand marcos jr., the son of the former u.s.-cked filipino dictator ferdinand marcos who brutally ruled the philippines from 1965 until 1986, when he was overthrown in a popular revolution. the philippines new vice president is sara duterte, the daughter of former president rodrigo duterte. whose so-called war on drugs killed tens of thousands of people. the charges against walden bello stem from comments he made about a member of sara duterte's campaign. on twitter, walden bello wrote -- "these people are mistaken if they think they can silence me and suppress my exercise of free speech." well, walden bello joins us now from manila. welcome back to democracy now! describe what happened to you on monday. >> thank you very much, amy, for invitinge. i think that it is very important to talk about the weaponization of the law in order to intimidate people who exercise their free speech. i w

in the philippines, police arrested former vice presidential candidate, scholar, and activist walden bello on cyber libel charges. he's since been released after he posted bail. last year, ahead of the presidential election in the philippines, a member of vice president sara duterte's campaign filed a cyber libel complaint against bello over statements he allegedly made on social media. she's the daughter of former president rodrigo duterte, whose government has been accused of severe human rights violations and repression against critics and journalists. on twitter, walden bello wrote -- "these people are mistaken if they think they can silence me and suppress my exercise of free speech." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman in new york, joined by democracy now! co-host juan gonzÁlez in new brunswick, new jersey. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: the fbi has seized documents from donald trump's mar-a-lago resort in florid