Suspended Negros Oriental 3rd District Rep. Arnolfo “Arnie” A. Teves Jr. on Friday asked the Department of Justice to dismiss the illegal possession of firearms and explosives filed against him by the Philippine National Police.
But DOJ Prosecution Attorney Hegel Jasper A. Balderama said the charges against Teves and his co-respondent Jose Palo Gimarangan are already submitted for resolution.
Teves’ lawyer, Ferdinand Topacio, confirmed the charges had been submitted for resolution after the panel of prosecutors conducted its last hearing yesterday.
Meanwhile, Pamplona, Negros Oriental Mayor Degamo has decried the apparent “VIP treatment” that will be afforded to Rep. Teves when he testifies Monday on the killing of her husband, Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo.
Teves, who has remained abroad, was tagged as the mastermind in the killing of Gov. Degamo.
Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa said Teves will testify virtually duringthe hearing of the case by the Senate Public Order committee, which he chairs.
Meanwhile, the lawmaker’s brother, former Negros Oriental Governor Pryde Henry Teves, on Friday said he would join the Senate investigation on the killing of his political rival Roel Degamo.
The Senate will open Monday its inquiry into the March 4 assassination of the Negro Oriental governor in his residential compound.
“I will come. I’m already preparing my antigen test and I’m already trying to get a ticket on Sunday. Hopefully, I will come with my lawyer Atty. Fortun. Physically we would be there,” ex-governor Teves told ABS-CBN’s TeleRadyo.
The charges against Rep. Teves and Gimarangan were filed last March 13 for violations of Republic Act No. 10591, the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act, and RA 9516 on illegal possession of explosives.
The firearms and explosives were allegedly seized when the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) served search warrants in Teves’ properties in Bayawan City and in Basay in Negros Oriental.
While Teves, through Topacio, filed a motion to dismiss the charges, Gimarangan’s lawyer Michael Mella filed a counter-affidavit for his client.
Teves is still abroad despite the expiration of his official travel last March 9. Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla believes that Teves is now in Cambodia.
The lawmaker has been implicated as an alleged mastermind in the killings of Degamo and eight other persons in Pamplona town. Teves has denied all the allegations against him.
Topacio said that under the DOJ’s Revised Manual for Prosecutors, a prosecutor is supposed to release the resolution of the preliminary investigation “60 days from the time the investigation started.”
“There is no question on the fact that Respondent Teves was not present when and where the alleged search and seizure transpired. This is settled from the supporting affidavits and other documents attached to the complaints. Physical or actual possession of any of the subject firearms, ammunitions and explosives on his part is, therefore necessarily absent,” he said in his motion to dismiss.
He admitted that under the Revised Manual for Prosecutors, a respondent “shall not be allowed to file a motion to dismiss in lieu of a counter-affidavit” and that the counter-affidavit should be subscribed and sworn before any prosecutor or an authorized government official.
However, Topacio said the filing of a motion to dismiss is allowed if there is an absence of probable cause, among the points he raised.
“In sum, complainants, with their evidence, even left uncontroverted, miserably failed to discharge their duty to establish probable cause against Respondent Teves as nothing has been shown to support his alleged constructive possession of any of the confiscated articles, much less of the premises where they were allegedly found,” Topacio also said.
In a letter addressed to Dela Rosa and other senators-members of said committee, Mayor Degamo said they were dismayed to find out that Teves was allowed to join the hearing through Zoom or teleconferencing.
This decision of the Senate, she said, has greatly affected the victims, who strongly disagree with such an accommodation.
“We believe that all participants in the hearing should be treated equally and given the opportunity to attend personally, regardless of the position or status,” stressed Mayor Degamo.
The mayor related that she and the complainants and families of the victims will attend the hearing personally, sacrificing their time, effort, money, and security just to ensure their voices are heard and concerns addressed.
“Allowing some participants to attend through Zoom/teleconferencing the value and importance of our presence in the hearing, and it is unfair to those who will attend personally,” added Mayor Degamo, while insisting that Teves is a fugitive who should not be afforded such an accommodation.
Pryde Teves served as governor of Negros Oriental until Degamo unseated him last October following a recount of the May 2022 gubernatorial race.
He said that since his voluntary exit from the governorship, he had returned to private life and “started enjoying it” until the Degamo murder.
Documents and other items allegedly belonging to the suspected gunmen in Degamo’s killing were recently found in a sugar mill compound reportedly owned by Teves.
Gov. Teves surrendered 18 of his guns to the authorities after the Philippine National Police (PNP) revoked their licenses. He also filed a waiver allowing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to look into his bank accounts, phone records, and emails in an effort to clear his name.
In the TeleRadyo interview, Teves said he also filed a counter-affidavit, where he explained how the firearms and explosives ended up on his property, citing information from his employees.
“They allegedly found a van there with money, right? I answered that, point for point. I asked all my employees to also sign sworn statements so we can see who owns the van, where it came from, how it entered, who parked it, and other such info so we can help in the investigation,” the ex-governor said.
He said he would reveal more information on this in the Senate hearing.
Still, Mayor Degamo appealed to Dela Rosa’s committee to reconsider their decision to allow Rep. Teves to attend the hearing virtually.
Sought for his comment, Dela Rosa said he will discuss this with the members of his committee and come up with a decision before they start the hearing on April 17.
Topacio said his team has filed a motion seeking the dismissal of the complaint during the preliminary probe at the Department of Justice.
Topacio said the 10-page motion called for the dismissal of the complaint “for utter lack of evidence to support a finding of probable cause.”
In the motion, Teves’ camp stated that the alleged insufficient evidence of the complainant against the beleaguered congressman was not established despite the additional evidence they submitted during a previous hearing.
“Despite the ample opportunity allowed to the complainants, it miserably failed to prove the element of possession, the gravamen of both offenses,” the complaint read.
“With such failure, the complaints are, thus, necessarily relegated to their original status as before the submission of their original evidence that is, it sustains no probable cause as, just the same, there remains no evidence of ‘the ownership or possession of the firearm, ammunition, or explosive.”
Tge complaint also noted the lack of evidence to support the probable cause for physical or constructive possession on his part.
“In sum, complainants, with their evidence, even left uncontroverted miserably failed to discharge their duty to establish probable cause against Respondent Teves as nothing has been shown to support his alleged constructive possession of any of the confiscated articles, much less of the premises where they were allegedly found,” it read.
According to Topacio, after inquest proceedings of those arrested during the police raids, the prosecutor already issued a resolution dated March 14.
It stated: “It did not find probable cause against the respondents but, instead, found the need to conduct preliminary investigation to fully ascertain who between the respondents should be charged for possession of the said firearms, ammunitions and explosive, considering that ‘although respondent Gimarangan was present at the property when the search warrant was implemented, nonetheless, there is an allegation that the property subject thereof is owned by respondent Teves Jr.’”
Topacio said that Prosecutor Balderama even gave the complainants the opportunity to submit additional evidence last March 29.
“Despite the ample opportunity allowed to the complainants, it miserably failed to prove the element of possession — the gravamen of both offenses,” he emphasized in his motion.
