Who is Silvestre "Bebot" Justice Man Bello?

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BELLO WHO?
By Jullie Y. Daza
Manila Bulletin

Silvestre “Bebot” Bello III is a candidate for senator. Silver who? Bello what? Bebop?

During the 40 years that he was in government serving under every President since Marcos but Estrada, “I was camera-shy,” Mr. Bello tells columnists. “And now I regret it.”

Now that he has to address crowds, he has to catch their attention by telling them, “I’m Justiceman Bello, but I’m not the husband of Vicky Belo.”

What do crowds look for and what do they remember, if they cannot place Mr. Bello, with a record as long as his name? He was Cory Aquino’s and FVR’s justice secretary; and before that undersecretary and solicitor general. Under GMA he was presidential adviser, cabinet secretary, peace negotiator.

With such a wealth of experience, he has anecdotes galore to tell, but do the crowds want to be regaled with stories of how rebel soldiers Jarque and Rodolfo Aguinaldo surrendered to him, how he was arrested by Gen. Fidel Ramos, the same PC-INP chief who would later recruit him for his cabinet?

With peace and justice as his battlecry, Bello-not-Belo agrees with his opposite number, Joma Sison, that the fastest way to wipe out the insurgents is to make them irrelevant by wiping out poverty, corruption and injustice.

Bello who? | Manila Bulletin



CEBU SITUATIONER
By Belinda Olivares-Cunanan
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Lakas senatorial candidate Silvestre “Bebot” Bello III recently met with our group of media women and he highlighted his public service career spanning 40 years. Among the current crop of senatorial candidates few can equal the vast experience of Bello, an Ateneo Law graduate. He held the justice portfolio twice, the first time during the Cory presidency and then during the Ramos era when he also served as FVR’s solicitor general. He also served as councilor in Ilagan, Isabela, in the early 1970s and from there he was transplanted to Davao where he became city administrator, with a reputation for sound management and progressive innovations.

But it was in the contentious peace process that Bello delivered the most outstanding—and colorful—performance of his public career. His first stint as chief negotiator with communist rebels came during the Ramos presidency. Under the Arroyo administration, he chaired the Philippine peace panel for three years. Ironically, FVR was also his jailer twice during the Marcos era, when he was one of the first human rights lawyers to join the Free Legal Assistance Group founded by Sen. Jose Diokno and Haydee Yorac to assist human rights victims. Bello’s stint there helped him earn the trust and confidence of key CPP-NPA-NDF leaders like Joma Sison, Luis Jalandoni and Fidel Agcaoili. He was able to secure the release of NPA hostages like Army Maj. Noel Buan after 22 months in captivity, and bring back into the mainstream retired Brig. Gen. Raymundo Jarque. As justice secretary, he succeeded in convicting influential suspects in the Vizconde massacre and the Maureen Hultman and Roland John Chapman double murder case. He prosecuted infamous coup plotters and was also instrumental in the surrender of renegade Lt. Col. Rodolfo Aguinaldo.

Bello’s wealth of experience in the field of human rights and peace negotiations will be most valuable in strengthening the peace process. But after listening to his colorful stories about rebel personalities on both sides of the ideological fence, the media women advised him to write his memoirs.

Cebu situationer - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos



Peacemaker Bebot Bello is "JUSTICE MAN"
By Deed
Manila Bulletin

The “sisterhood” of our Bulong Pulungan sa Sofitel Philippine Plaza recently sat down to dinner for a long chat with Lakas senatorial candidate, Silvestre “Bebot” Bello, also known as “Justice man!"

First thing I found out that night was that deep purple (his campaign color) is the color of justice Bebot, whom I first met during “Tita” Cory’s presidency, has devoted his entire life and career in promoting justice especially for the marginalized. Even when he was not yet in government service, he was a civil rights lawyer fighting for justice in Mindanao, ensuring that the late dictator Marcos’s hapless victims had legal representation.

The zealous human rights advocate landed in the military stockade several times (his ‘jailer’ was a certain general, Fidel V. Ramos who would later on be his friend and boss when he became president). The thing that impressed me about Bebot (although I had been crowing about his achievements to the group before our dinner) was his impeccable record as peace negotiator – with rebels, with the MILF, labor, among others.

The media–shy negotiator would go all the way up the mountain and into the rebels’ lair to escort them down, but more often, the politicos at the bottom base would get the media spotlight. He was not one to claim the credit for the long weeks or even months of negotiations out of media’s scrutiny.

Typically Bebot, he quickly slipped into anonymity once his job was done.

In the Arroyo cabinet, Bello was also known as a straight-talker who did not hesitate to advise the president when asked on matters of justice and peace talks. He also delivered to her even the distressing news, and was not simply a “Yes, Ma’am” secretary.

Now “Justice Man” Bello has presented himself to the national consciousness for his senatorial campaign. Having been in the executive branch under three presidents, Aquino, Ramos and Arroyo, he is more than ready to serve in the legislature where his legal expertise and negotiation skills can best be put to use in the nation’s service!

How would you like to be known by the electorate, we asked Bebot before we parted that evening.

“Very simply,” he smiled his engaging smile, eyes twinkling… “as a Peacemaker!”

We all know we need a Peacemaker in the Senate!

Peacemaker Bebot Bello is ?Justice Man? | Manila Bulletin