Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 18) — Former Negros Oriental Gov. Pryde Teves on Tuesday maintained that the makeshift firing range at the sugar mill he partly owns was never used during the days leading to the murder of Gov. Roel Degamo.
Speaking to CNN Philippines’ The Source, he noted the dates he was in the property, adding that “If there was a practice there would have been gunfire. I would have heard it if it happened.”
Pamplona town Mayor Janice Degamo, widow of the slain governor, during a Senate committee hearing on Monday questioned the legality of the firing range. She asked if the facility and the shooting activities being conducted there were registered.
If not, they might add this as one of the complaints they will be filing against him since some of the suspects claimed they practiced shooting inside a sugar mill, she added.
Teves admitted to operating such a facility which has been existing since the early 2000s. He noted they only use this once a month or once every two months for pastime.
If a complaint is filed, he said he will be ready to face it.
In the same hearing, authorities confirmed that there is no registered shooting range in the sugar mill.
Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa then told Teves that the shooting activities being held in his property are illegal.
Teves said he already made a commitment to register future firing activities that he will be conducting in his property.
The former Negros Oriental governor is the brother of suspended Congressman Arnolfo Teves, the alleged mastermind of Degamo’s assassination.
