The Department of Justice (DOJ) has ordered Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. until July 17 to submit his counter-affidavit on murder charges filed against him for the deaths of 10 persons including Gov. Roel Degamo, and injuries inflicted on 18 others on March 4, 2023 in Pamplona town.
Meanwhile, The DOJ defended a ruling of its panel of prosecutors denying the motion to inhibit themselves from conducting the preliminary investigation of the murder charges against Teves.
During the preliminary investigation on Tuesday, the DOJ’s panel of prosecutors also denied a motion to inhibit its members from further conducting the initial probe on the charges filed against Teves.
Teves’ lawyers earlier sought the panel’s inhibition and to turn over the preliminary investigation of the charges to the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) over alleged bias and pre-judgments.
The suspended legislator had been charged with 10 counts of murder, 14 counts of frustrated murder, and four counts of attempted murder in the March 4 murder of Degamo and nine others.
Teves has also been tagged as “one of the masterminds” in the Degamo slaying. He has denied the allegations.
One of Teves’ lawyers, Andres Manuel, said their request for time to file counter-affidavit was granted during the hearing. “Actually, we were given more time,” he said, after the hearing.
“They denied the motion for inhibition because, for them, they act independently,” he said.
Manuel said he asked the panel a copy of a written ruling on the denial of the motion for inhibition so Teves’ legal team can act accordingly.
“If we want to file a motion for reconsideration, we may do so, or we may want to elevate it to a higher level,” he added.
On the other hand, five of the 11 detained suspects in the killings affirmed their affidavit of recantation which stated that they were forced to admit their participation and that of Teves’ in the killings.
“The first five who earlier recanted affirmed their recantation before the panel through online appearance,” Manuel said. The 11 suspects are currently detained at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Manila.
The recantations were made by suspects Jhudiel Rivero, Dahniel Lora, Romel Pattaguan, Rogelio Antipolo Jr., and Joven Javier.
Lawyer Russel Miraflor, one of the lawyers of the five suspects, said he also filed before the DOJ panel a motion to suppress evidence.
“We believe this forum (the panel) no longer has jurisdiction over them because they have already expressed their recantations,” Miraflor said.
At the same time, the panel set a hearing on Monday (July 4) to receive the affidavits of recantations executed by five other detained suspects — Winrich Isturis, Eulogio Gonyon Jr., John Louie Gonyon, Joric Labrador, and Benjie Rodriguez.
The panel instructed the NBI, which filed the charges against Teves, to submit during the July 4 hearing copies of the closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footages and clearer copies of photographic evidence.
Lawyer Paris Real, counsel of helicopter pilot Capt. Lloyd Cruz Garcia, said the panel granted his request for copies of CCTV footages and clearer copies of the photographs.
Real said Garcia was accused of having piloted the helicopter used by the suspects two days after the massacre.
“He doesn’t have anything to do with plot,” he said.
“Murder cases especially of this nature where 10 were killed is best prosecuted here in the DOJ because we have prosecutors who are able and very willing to probe these cases,” Justice Assistant Secretary Jose Dominic Clavano IV said.
“So, the jurisdiction is clearly here in the DOJ,” he added.
During the hearing on Tuesday, Clavano cited the panel of prosecutors explanation that “they are instructed by the Rules of Court to afford due process to the respondents.”
“In fact, the panel of prosecutors has given every right to the respondents to respond via their counter-affidavits and to put there all their arguments or their defense to the crime charged,” he said.
Clavano said “the camp of Cong. Teves as well as the gunmen were asked if there was any doubt to the impartiality or to the independence of the panel of prosecutors . “Their camp replied that they had no doubt on the independence of the panel of prosecutors,” he said.
“So, from that alone you can already see that there is a different play going on here as to why the Teves camp wanted to transfer the case before the Ombudsman). If there is no doubt as to the independence of the panel of prosecutors then why still venture to ask the case be transferred to the Ombudsman,” he noted.
Clavano also said the panel had given assurance that “there are remedies under the Rules of Court that are available to the camp of Cong. Teves and the rest of the gunmen to avail themselves of.”