BY ASHZEL HACHERO and WENDELL VIGILIA
JUSTICE Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla yesterday said the department is working to also designate three to five allies of suspended Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo “Arnie” Teves as terrorists.
Remulla told reporters in an ambush interview that the DOJ will be meeting with the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) “very soon” to discuss the matter, including their move to ask the Court of Appeals to proscribe or designate Teves as a terrorist under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.
“We will be discussing the designation of Congressman Teves as a terrorist. And some of the people, the individuals who work with him, to have the same designation,’ Remulla said.
He said one Teves’ allies is Marvin Miranda, one of the alleged masterminds in the March 4 attack that killed Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo and eight provincial government employees and civilians.
“We are looking at three, four, or five other people who may be considered as part of the terror organization of Teves,” he added.
He said Miranda belongs to the “core group’” that plotted the attack on Degamo.
“He is a member of the core group or what others call a terrorist cell. Miranda is included,’ Remulla said.
Teves, in an interview with CNN Philippines, slammed Remulla anew for the plan to tag him a terrorist, saying it only proves his claim that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has already prejudged him when the accusations against him have yet to be be proven in court.
He also asked Remulla what he has done to earn the DOJ chief’s ire.
“Boss Boying, bakit mo ako tinututuro, ano’ng galit mo sa akin? Ano’ng ginawa ko sa ’yo? Wala akong kasalanan sa inyo boss, bakit niyo ako tinuturo? (Boss Boying, why are you pointing at me? What have I ever done to you? I never did you any wrong, boss, why point at me?),” he said.
Earlier, Remulla said Teves appears to be the mastermind in the attack, adding that if in the movies, the latter is the “executive producer and producer” while Miranda, a military reservist who was taken into custody by the National Bureau of Investigation early this month, is the “director or casting director” of the plot.
Remulla previously explained that Miranda has a “very strong connection” to Teves as he is responsible for the recruitment of persons who will take part in the attack on Degamo as well as the procurement of the weapons.
ALLIES
Remulla said the three to five allies of Teves are not government officials but they have played different, “pivotal” roles in the attack.
He said investigators are still working out the details to ensure that their case to have them declared as terrorists is airtight.
The DOJ chief also said they are also looking into claims aired during the Senate investigation last week on Degamo’s killing if Teves is involved in illegal online cockfighting and small town lottery operations (STL) in the province.
Degamo’s widow, Pamplona Mayor Janice Degamo, claimed during the Senate inquiry that Teves and his brother, former governor Pryde Henry Teves, are making money from illegal online sabong and STL operations.
Pryde Henry has denied Degamo’s allegations while the suspended lawmaker earlier said he was involved in online sabong but long before it was declared illegal.
“The fact that this money is being used, was used to finance terrorism, should be one angle that we should follow as people who are investigating a crime so dastardly,” Remulla added.
CHOPPER
Remulla said they are seeking to place under PNP custody a helicopter allegedly owned by Teves or the military following information it was used by some of the suspects in the Degamo murder to escape.
“They were whisked out of Negros Oriental and brought to Maguindanao using that helicopter. That is one of the things that make you believe that he is involved because it was his chopper that the gunmen used in their escape out of Negros Oriental,” he said in Filipino.
Teves, who refused to return to the country over fears for his safety, has denied any link or involvement in the killing.
Aside from being implicated in the Degamo killing, Teves is also facing multiple murder charges before the DOJ over the 2019 killing of former Negros Oriental board member Miguel Dungog and two others, as well as complaints of illegal possession of firearms.
MARCOS MEETING
Degamo’s widow, in a separate ambush interview, told reporters said she has extended her and her family’s gratitude to President Marcos Jr. for his help in getting justice.
A post on her Facebook account showed Mayor Degamo met with Marcos Jr. three days ago.
‘We inquired from the President’s office if we will be given even a short while to personally extend our gratefulness to our President for all the efforts to help keep Negros Oriental peaceful and help us seek justice for our loved ones. It was only a try, since we also understand that very seldom can a last-minute schedule be accommodated, especially if it is for the President’s appointment that we are requesting,” Mrs. Degamo said.
‘We were there just to extend our thanks. And we were surprised to find that parang nag handa sila. Tapos biglaan ‘yun. Last minute. Parang nag try lang kami (it seemed they prepared was last-minute We just tried),” she said.
Mayor Degamo was at the DOJ yesterday to attend the continuation of the preliminary investigation of the case against the suspects in the killing of her husband.
Remulla confirmed Mrs. Degamo’s account and said the President stayed only briefly during the meeting.
FAIRNESS
Teves, whose whereabouts remain unknown, in the CNN interview, it
said it is clear he is already guilty in Remulla’s eyes.
“Bakit niya ako tinutumbok, Boying (Remulla)… Nung sinabi na sinimulan na ‘yong proseso para sa pagdeklara sa akin na terorista, paano niyo sisimulan ‘yong proseso na hindi pa nga ako guilty? (Why are you pinning me down, Boying? When he said that the process to have me declared as a terrorist will begin, how can you start the process when I’m not yet guilty?”
Remulla has said that once Teves is designated as a terrorist, his assets can be frozen, which would make the world smaller for him.
Teves said the DOJ is weaponizing Republic Act No. 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.
He said the weapons allegedly seized from his properties were planted.
On Friday, he said another raid was conducted, this time on his poultry farm. Yesterday, he said one of those involved in the raid apologized to him and said the order was from two high-ranking officials.
“Yung isang nag-raid nagsabi, ‘Pasensiya na kayo boss, utos ito ng dalawa doon sa taas.’ Hindi ko lang babanggitin ‘yung pangalan. ‘Wala kaming magawa dahil utos nila talaga na idiin kayo (One of the members of the raiding team said, ‘Sorry, boss, it’s just orders from two higher-ups.’ I just won’t mention names. ‘We can’t do anything because the order is to pin you down),” Teves said.
He said any contraband seized in the raid on his poultry farm were planted like the guns that were allegedly seized from his other properties in previous raids.
Teves earlier claimed two powerful government officials have ordered to kill him because they want to monopolize the e-sabong business in the province, which the embattled lawmaker admitted to have been formerly involved in.
Teves has said the two officials, who are not political rivals, were also the ones who orchestrated the previous police raid in his properties to allegedly plant evidence against him.
