Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 18) — The camp of slain Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo on Tuesday said it has evidence that may prove the connection of embattled Rep. Arnolfo Teves, who was tagged as the mastermind of the murder, to terrorist groups.
“We have evidence to prove that Congressmen Teves could be connected with terrorist groups as well as having committed separate acts of terrorism,” Levito Baligod, the lawyer of the Degamo family, told CNN Philippines’ The Source.
During a Senate committee hearing on Monday, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said authorities are looking at designating the suspended lawmaker as a terrorist.
This comes as Teves continuously refuses to return to the Philippines since he flew to the United States late February and face the allegations against him.
According to Baligod, the suspended lawmaker has committed political terrorism in connection with the killings he allegedly orchestrated.
“The several killings there are meant to put the community in fear and that is for the political ends of the Teves,” he noted.
Aside from Degamo’s death, Teves is also facing multiple murder complaints in relation to the killings of at least four individuals in 2019.
Teves has maintained his innocence.
Baligod said it is also possible that the congressman’s brother, former Negros Oriental Gov. Pryde Teves, has links to the killings and militant groups. This is following the recovery of improvised explosive devices (IED) in the sugar mill compound the latter partly owns.
“Pryde Teves is the president of the company that owns the premises where the IEDs were recovered. I was told nothing moves there without him knowing it,” the counsel said.
Baligod noted that these confiscated explosive devices are composed of two types of pipe bombs. One is made with PVC which is usually used by the New People’s Army, and another uses metal pipes which is used by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the Jemaah Islamiyah, he added.
“The more important question here is who brought that technology to the hands of Teves because not any ordinary police or military know bomb technology,” Baligod pointed out.
During the continuation of the Senate hearing on Tuesday, Pamplona town Mayor Janice Degamo, widow of the governor, also emphasized that “ only terrorist groups are in possession of bombs.”
