THE Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs will invite suspended Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. and his brother, former Negros Oriental governor Pryde Henry Teves, when the panel holds its first hearing on the assassination of Gov. Roel Degamo.
Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, committee chairman, said the hearing will be held on April 17 “as requested by Mayor Janice Degamo,” the governor’s widow. The panel originally set a hearing last month but postponed it to give the PNP and the National Bureau of Investigation enough time to file airtight cases against the suspects in the killing of Degamo last March 4 in the province.
“(The) DOJ (Department of Justice) is in deep with criminal prosecution. Our Senate investigation, in aid of legislation, will complement their efforts once additional evidence will be unearthed in the process, but my committee will focus more on policy issues that may be fixed through legislation,” Dela Rosa said in a message to the media.
Dela Rosa said the committee will allow Rep. Teves to attend the hearing “whether physical or virtual.” Teves has not reported to the House of Representatives since his official leave of absence lapsed on March 9.
When asked if inviting Rep. Teves to the hearing will not be a breach of interparliamentary courtesy, Dela Rosa said he see nothing wrong with it because the former has been invited and has physically attended a Senate hearing before.
“We will be inviting him not as a resource person but as a member of the House whose name is being implicated in the issue at hand. We did that already during our e-sabong (online cockfighting) investigation which he agreeably attended and utilized such opportunity to air his side. But if he invokes interparliamentary courtesy this time around, then we will afford him such courtesy,” Dela Rosa said.
The committee will also send invitations to the arrested suspects “once clearance from courts are obtained.”
He added the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the family of the victims in the Degamo case will also be invited.
Rep Teves brother was unseated by Roel Degamo in the gubernatorial race. In February, the Supreme Court dismissed petitions filed by Pryde Henry Teves against the Comelec, and upheld Degamo’s victory.
