Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 31) — Several personal belongings of alleged gunmen who assassinated Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo were recovered in the sugar mill compound owned by former governor Pryde Henry Teves, the Joint Task Force (JTF) Negros said.
According to the report released by JTF Negros on Thursday, identification cards (IDs), documents, and burned clothes supposedly belonging to Degamo’s killers were recovered in the sugar mill compound.
Also recovered were a silencer, soldering iron, a flash drive, rifle cleaning equipment, caliber .45 cartridges, a Swiss knife, and a tucker used for target papers.
Authorities have been searching Teves’ 50-hectare sugar mill compound in southern Santa Catalina town in Negros Oriental since Friday last week.
Authorities have seized some ₱18 million in cash, multiple firearms, and nearly 10,000 rounds of live ammunition in the initial raid on a sugar mill last week.
Explosives including a rocket-propelled grenade and an improvised explosive device (IED) were discovered in a deep pit in the compound during the second search of the sugar mill.
Teves, however, maintained that he has no knowledge of how those firearms and ammunitions ended up there.
The former governor earlier clarified that he only partly owns the sugar mill, where he has a 10-percent share.
Teves previously gave his consent to cooperate with authorities after the first police raid on the sugar mill.
Dumaguete-based correspondent Roy Bustillo contributed to this report.
