BY ASHZEL HACHERO and WENDELL VIGILIA
FIVE more suspects in the March 4 attack that killed Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo and nine others have retracted their statements on their supposed role in the killing, bringing to 10 the number of suspects who have recanted.
An 11th suspect in custody, Marvin Miranda, never confessed to his role or participation in Degamo’s murder from the very start.
All 11 suspects are in the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation.
At the House of Representatives, congressmen approved the recommendation of the committee on ethics to suspend Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr., tagged as mastermind of the attack, for another 60 days for his continued absence without a travel authority which it said constituted “disorderly behavior.”
Sources said the House is poised to expel Teves if he will not return to work on July 31.
Voting 285-0 with one abstention, congressmen voted on committee report No. 660 which also recommended that Teves be stripped of all his committee memberships.
Rep. Felipe Espares (PL, COOP-NATCCO), chair of the ethics panel, said Teves’ reported application for political asylum in Timor-Leste only “aggravated” his situation because his failure to perform his duties as a lawmaker only continued.
“It compromises the integrity of the House of Representatives,” said Espares, adding that Teves’ absence was “detrimental to the House and its members.”
Teves left for the United States on February 28 and was supposed to return on March 10.
The plenary on March 22 upheld the ethics panel’s recommendation for a 60-day suspension which ended last May 22.
The Espares panel had the option to recommend expulsion but the rules allow the panel to recommend “any penalty that the committee may determine.”
TORTURE CLAIM
Defense lawyer Jord Valenton yesterday said suspects Winrich Esturis, Eugenio Gonyon Jr., John Louie Gonyon, Joric Labrador and Benjie Rodriguez recanted as they claimed to have been tortured to sign their supposed confessions.
“They said they were tortured and coerced to execute those affidavits,” Valenton told reporters after a hearing at Branch 51 of the Manila Regional Trial Court.
But the five could not identify who tortured them as they were blindfolded, he said.
Those who earlier recanted were Osmundo Rivero, Rogelio Antipolo Jr., Dahniel Lora, Romel Pattaguan, and Joven Javier. Their statements linked Teves to the crime. They also claimed they were tortured or coerced into signing confessions.
The PNP has belied the torture claim while DOJ spokesperson Jose Dominic Clavano has said Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla who is on top of the investigation on Degamo’s killing will never allow it.
Teves has denied any involvement in the killing.
PERJURY
In a press conference yesterday, Remulla said the recantation means the suspects committed perjury.
But he said the DOJ has received only one recantation.
“We do not know the others. So, somebody is orchestrating it. There are spin doctors talaga (really). Meron talagang gumagamit ng resources para sirain ang istorya, ang kaso ng gobyerno (There are persons using resources to destroy the government’s case),” he said.
“These recantations cannot be taken lightly because there is perjury one way or another,” he added.
Remulla said Rivero’s recantation and habeas corpus plea was not signed by his lawyer.
“Since Atty. (Danny) Villanueva was his lawyer, we presumed it was prepared by him but he did not attach his signature or name,” he said.
Amid the recantations, Remulla said the government case remains strong as they still have other pieces of evidence against the suspects.
Remulla also dismissed the claim of illegal arrest raised by the suspects, adding that “everything is presumed to have happened regularly” as he said some of the suspects were arrested as part of hot pursuit operations of the authorities.
“The government has resources to look for the suspects and it has the resources to look for suspects and we use the resources of the government to look for these suspects,” he added.
‘DIRECTOR’
Remulla also said prosecutors are eyeing Miranda as the one who told the suspects to recant their testimonies.
He earlier told reporters Miranda acted as the “director or casting director” in the attack on Degamo while Teves appeared to be the “main mastermind” in the case.
“True to form, as we said he was the director of everything, the director of the massacre was again directing the activities around how they are going to make everybody recant,’ he said.
Remulla also said Teves is still in Timor-Leste where he earlier sought asylum but was rejected by that country’s authorities.
He said Teves was was accompanied by 13 persons and used a private jet in going to Timor Leste from Singapore.
The 13 include Teves’ wife and “cohort” Eric Gallaga, he said.
Remulla said Teves can stay in that country while he pursues his bid for a reconsideration of the decision rejecting his asylum bid or he can even go to another country, “but the world is getting smaller.”
Despite repeated assurances on his safety, with no less than President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. saying government will secure him, Teves has refused to return, citing threats to his life and that of his family.
MOTIONS TO QUASH
The Manila Regional Trial Court deferred anew the arraignment of the suspects in Degamo’s killing.
Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon said the the court decided to defer the arraignment due to several “incidents pending in court,” including the petition to quash information filed by the suspects.
Fadullon said the suspects wanted the court to quash the information citing their alleged illegal arrest by the authorities.
Lawyer Reynante Orceo confirmed that Miranda, his client, has filed a motion to quash with the court.
“Insofar as our client is concerned, Marvin Miranda, we filed a motion to quash and to suppress evidence,” said Arceo, a Justice undersecretary during the Duterte administration.
Villanueva also said his other clients — Rivero, Antipolo Jr., Lora, Pattaguan, and Javier — have also filed motions to quash, aside from another motion to suppress sworn statements and one to retain them under the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation.
Villanueva said the court set the next hearing of the case on July 19.
The arraignment was first set on April 6 but the court deferred it to May 31 after the Department of Justice said it needed to file more complaints related to the case.
Teves is not included in the case as the multiple murders and frustrated murder cases against him are still undergoing preliminary investigation at the DOJ.
Aside from being implicated in the Degamo killing, Teves is also facing multiple murder charges before the DOJ over the 2019 killing of there persons in Negros Oriental, as well as complaints of illegal possession of firearms.
The DOJ has also moved to designate Teves as a terrorist under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 due to his alleged involvement in several high-profile killings and other criminal activities.
