Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 18) – The wife of slain Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo on Tuesday bared she has a video of her husband saying that former governor Pryde Henry Teves and suspended congressman Arnie Teves are the “source of threats” to his life.
During the Senate hearing on the killing, Pamplona Mayor Janice Degamo said the video was taken while they were on their way to Manila for her husband’s oath taking.
“He mentioned their names to be the source of threats to his life,” the widow said.
READ: Degamo’s widow says nabbed ‘mastermind’ had plans to kill gov since 2020
Mayor Degamo also claimed the Teves brothers are involved in other brazen and politically motivated killings in Negros Oriental.
She said for more than a decade, the residents “suffered in silence in the face of tyranny, oppression, violence, impunity, and of excessive abuse of power and influence.”
“Former governor Henry and Arnie should be answerable for the things that they did to our province, to our people,” she added. “The culture of violence and silence has to end. It is about time for the people of Negros Oriental to stand up and fight for justice that has been denied to them.\”
READ: IDs, documents of Degamo gunmen found in Teves’ sugar mill
On Monday, the Philippine National Police-Crime Investigation and Detection Group reported there were 40 politically motivated shooting in the province from 2016 to present.
Mayor Degamo also claimed the Teves brothers have established a culture of fear in government agencies in the province, hence cases filed against them and their allies did not progress.
“May problema tayo na kapag Teves ang kalaban, walang tatanggap sa’ yo. Minsan ang piskal pa mismo ang magdadala ng papel at i-encourage ka na umatras na lang,” she said.
[Translation: There is a problem that if you are going against a Teves, no lawyer will accept you. Sometimes the prosecutor will be the one to bring the paper and encourage you to just back off.]
‘Other illegal activities’
During the hearing, Mayor Degamo also claimed that the Teves brothers were linked to various illegal activities in the province, such as e-sabong and lottery operations.
“It is public knowledge in Negros Oriental that the money of the Teves family comes from e-sabong and small town lottery,” she said.
Former governor Pryde Henry Teves denied the accusations.
“I am not involved in any gaming or numbers game. I already gave my waiver to my bank secrecy and all my assets, you can check it for the last 15 years,” he said.
She further claimed that the Teveses’ alleged abuse of power has gone unchecked because government agencies, public prosecutors and even the police are afraid of them.
Families of victims of unsolved murders supposedly linked to the Teves family in “killing field” Negros Oriental also made their voices heard during the hearing.Among them was Sherwin Diangco, who said his father — a former local government employee — was assassinated by a bodyguard of embattled lawmaker Teves.Ella Bernadette Sistoso shared that her father, a radio commentator in the province, was killed after declining an offer from the Teves camp to quit working for Governor Degamo.A week after he got the offer, he received death threats and kept telling us to keep safe because he might be gone. At my father’s wake, someone from the opposition spoke to my mother, [saying] that my father was stupid for not accepting the money,” Sistoso recalled.Juanita Generoso, widow of Dumaguete-based radio broadcaster Dindo Generoso, questioned the province’s press freedom following the murder of her husband, who she said only spoke of a cockpit.
Generoso said she is hanging onto President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s vow to put an end to political killings in Negros Oriental.
Para na kasing killing fields ‘to. Merong patay, isa, dalawa. Next week, isa, dalawa [It’s becoming like killing fields. One, two are dead. Next week, [another] one, two],” she said.
