JUSTICE Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla yesterday said suspended Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves remains in Timor-Leste and has asked authorities there to reconsider their decision rejecting his bid for political asylum.
Remulla, in a press conference, said he received the information from an official of the Philippine Embassy official in Dili.
Timor-Leste’s Ministry of the Interior, in junking Teves’ plea for asylum, gave him five days to leave the country.
Remulla said they will continue to oppose Teves’ bid.
“Continuing objection yan. I said the same thing to the Cambodian ambassador before when we got to know that he was trying to seek refuge in Cambodia. We told them this is a local case, a celebrated case, it’s in the headline, it’s easy to search and validate, and is under investigation by the NBI and we have complete press briefings in this matter,” he said.
Remulla has tagged Teves as a alleged mastermind in the March 4 murder of Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo. Teves has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attack on the governor’s residence in Pamplona town, which killed eight others on the same day. A 10th victim died last Sunday.
Teves flew to the US late February for medical treatment. The travel authority issued to him by the House of Representatives expired on March 9.
The chamber suspended him for his continued absence.
Meanwhile, a man surfaced at the NBI headquarters in Manila on Wednesday night claiming he had been recruited to join the group that would later kill Degamo, and that the group worked for a “Mayor Fritz.”
In a two-page sworn statement, Marlon Quibod of Hinubaan, Negros Oriental, said he met Arnel Libradilla, an old acquaintance and an alleged member of the New People’s Amy, in October 2022. In January this year, he said, Libradilla brought him to the Dauin cockpit to urge him to work for an alias “Brownie.” He said he refused Libradilla’s offer as he wanted to focus his attention on clearing his name as he has been previously charged with attempted homicide and murder.
He said on March 6, he found out that Degamo had been assassinated and that Libradilla was also killed in the encounter with pursuing police and military operatives.
A police report said Libradilla tried to fight it out with the joint police-military team looking for Degamo’s killers, prompting them to fire back.
The only mayor in Negros Oriental named Fritz is Siaton town mayor Fritz Diaz, a nephew of the slain governor.
Remulla dismissed Quibod’s statement, saying the NBI did not find it credible.
He said people from Teves’ camp could be behind the move in a “desperate attempt to muddle the situation,” especially now that the NBI is readying the filing of multiple murder complaints against the embattled solon either today, Friday, or on Monday next week in connection with Degamo’s killing.
“I’ll tell you one thing. When things like this happen, you have a suspicion that there’s somebody orchestrating it and there is somebody playing up. From a PR point of view, nagbabayad ng pera sa mga tao para sa story. I am sorry to say that but it appears to be that way. Why? Kasi (Because) out of nowhere, here comes somebody with a story and suddenly everybody knows about it,” Remulla said.
Asked who he suspects to be behind Quibod’s surfacing, Remulla said, “This is from the Teves camp. It’s a desperate attempt to muddle the situation kaya wag kayong magpa-operate,” he said.
SENATE HEARING
At the continuation of the hearing of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, a daughter of a radio broadcaster killed in Dumaguete City in May 2018 pointed to Teves as the brains behind the assassination.
Ella Sestoso said it was only Teves who had the motive to have her father, Edmund Sestoso, killed because the broadcaster was very critical of the congressman’s alleged illegal gambling operations in the province.
She said several witnesses can implicate Teves but they refuse to give their statements to the police for fear of their lives.
Sestoso said she mustered enough courage to face the Senate inquiry so that her father’s case can progress.
The local police have filed a murder cases against suspects Rene Bustamante, Jerryl Delantes, and Richard Bustamante.
Police said Rene Bustamante has a grudge on Sestoso whom he suspected to have tipped policemen, leading to his arrest for illegal possession of firearms and explosives in Tanjay, Negros.
Sestoso’s widow, Lourdes, said she withdrew the case against the three as they are merely fall guys.
Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, panel chairman, lashed out at the PNP for repeatedly over complaints they would not enter into the blotter if the complained party are the Teves.
Yesterday’s hearing was the fifth on the the Degamo and other political killings in the province, most of them attributed to the Teveses.
No member of the Teves family was present during yesterday’s hearing to at least refute the new allegations.
Teves’ lawyer, meanwhile, refuted Remulla’s statement the other day that his client is a fugitive from justice.
“He cannot be considered a fugitive from justice as we have been participating in all the legal processes that we have been allowed to participate in,” Ferdinand Topacio in a TV interview.
Remulla on Wednesday also said the DOJ will move to cancel Teves’ passport after the NBI files cases against him either today, Friday, or Monday next week.
Topacio said there is no basis to cancel Teves passport and they will challenge the move.
Topacio earlier said a passport may be canceled only when one is a fugitive from justice, when one has been convicted of a crime, and when the passport was fraudulently acquired or tampered with. — With Raymond Africa
