A Manila City regional trial court on Tuesday ordered the arrest of expelled Negros Oriental 3rd District congressman Arnolfo “Arnie” A. Teves Jr. and his co-accused in connection with the March 4, 2023 killings of Gov. Roel R. Degamo and several other persons in Pamplona town.
Judge Merianthe Pacita M. Zuraek of RTC Branch 51 issued the arrest order on the murder, frustrated murder, and attempted murder cases filed against them by a panel of prosecutors of the Department of Justice last Aug. 18.
The magistrate also ordered that the detained accused Nigel Electona be transferred “from the custody of the Manila City Jail to the Metro Manila District Jail (MMDJ)-Annex 2, BJMP (Bureau of Jail Management and Penology) Compound, Camp Bagong Diwa, Bicutan, Taguig City.”
Zuraek then set the arraignment of Teves and his co-accused and the pre-trial conference on Oct. 4.
“Let an E-Warrant of Arrest be issued on (1) Arnolfo Teves, Jr. y Alipit, a.k.a. ‘Arnie’, ‘Big Boss Idol’, ‘Boss Idol’, ‘Idol’, ‘Kalbo’, (2) Angelo Palagtiw y Valiente a.k.a. ‘Angelou’, ‘Angelo Valiente’, ‘Gelo’, ‘Geloui’, (3) One Alias ‘Sister of Angelo Palagtiw’, ‘Gie Ann’, ‘Jie An’, and (4) Capt. Lloyd Cruz Garcia II,” the order read.
The five were charged with 10 counts of murder, 12 counts of frustrated murder, and four counts of attempted murder.
The DOJ prosecutors filed the cases before the Manila RTC after conducting a preliminary investigation on the complaints filed by the National Bureau of Investigation and the family of Degamo.
“The Panel of Prosecutors found that respondents Teves, Capt. Garcia, Angelo, Gee-an, and Electona are liable as co-conspirators along with the other assassins in the commission of Murder, Frustrated Murder, and Attempted Murder,” the DOJ said in a statement issued last August.
Eleven persons are now under detention for the March 4 killings. They are Marvin Miranda, Rogelio Antipolo Jr., Rommel Pattaguan, Winrich Isturis, John Louie Gonyon, Dahniel Lora, Eulogio Gonyon Jr., Joric Labrador, Joven Javier, Benjie Rodriguez, and Jhudiel Rivero.
Teves has not returned to the Philippines since his travel authority abroad as a congressman expired last March 9.
He was twice suspended as a member of Congres and later expelled. He had also been designated a terrorist by the Anti-Terrorism Council, and his assets in the Philippines have been ordered frozen.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had ordered the transfer to the Manila RTC of all cases that would be filed in connection with the March 4 killings in Pamplona town. Aside from the Degamo-related killings, Teves has been charged with murder for the deaths of three persons in Negros Oriental in 2019.