The Anti-Terrorism Council has designated suspended Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr., along with 12 others, as “terrorists” for their involvement in the alleged killings and harassment in Negros Oriental.
Teves laughed off the tag in a virtual press conference, maintaining that he nor his brother had anything to do with the killing of Degamo last March.
“That is stupidity,” the lawmaker, who is abroad and refuses to come home citing threats to his safety, said. “There is no such thing.”
His camp also denounced the move, accusing the government of abusing the congressman’s constitutional rights and embarking on a massive media campaign to discredit him.
Meanwhile, the House ethics committee will resume its probe of Teves for the third time after his second 60-day suspension from Congress expired yesterday.
The Negros representative is compelled to return to work after Speaker Martin Romualdez ordered the House to return to full face-to-face operations, following the lifting of the state of national emergency over the COVID-19 pandemic.
The terrorist tag also allows the Anti-Money Laundering Council to freeze Teves’ assets, the House panel said.
But Teves said since he is being tried, he should be able to personally present his case to Congress, not just his lawyers led by Ferdinand Topacio.
In a resolution dated July 26, the ATC labeled Teves and his armed group as terrorists after finding “probable cause” for alleged violations of some provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.
The ATC resolution, signed by its chairman Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, was released to the media on Tuesday. The resolution identified the other alleged members of “Teves Terrorist Group” as follows: Pryde Henry A. Teves, Winrich B. Isturis, John Louie Gonyon, Dahniel Lora, Eulogio Gonyon, Jr., Tomasino Aledro, Nigel Electona, Jomarie Catubay, Hannah Mae Sumero Oray, Marvin H. Miranda, Rogelio C. Antipolo, and Rommel Pattaguan.
Pryde Henry is the brother of the suspended congressman, who has been implicated as the mastermind behind the assassination of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo. They have denied involvement in the killings in the province.
The resolution tagged Teves’ brother as a terrorist for allegedly providing material support to his armed group.
It also said the management of operational funds for the killings was tasked to Oray, while Miranda served as the organizer and recruiter of personnel for attacks.
ATC said such designations were formalized following a “thorough examination” of “compelling evidence and factual incidents.”
The resolution said Teves and his group allegedly violated the Anti-Terrorism Act, including “offenses related to committing terrorism, planning, training, preparing, and facilitating terrorist acts, recruitment and membership in a terrorist organization, as well as providing materials support to terrorists.”
“A closer evaluation of these killings and harassment shows an unmistakable pattern of a rather organized and orchestrated action. These killings and harassment are meticulously and deliberately planned and executed for the purpose of intimidating the residents of Negros Oriental as well as to create an atmosphere or spread a message of fear,” the council resolution stated.
“These acts are also designed to influence by intimidation the local population and government of Negros Oriental to seriously undermine public safety and to ensure that Cong. Teves, Jr. and his group could continue and expand their reign of terror in the guise of political leadership,” the ATC said.
The DOJ had earlier sought the designation of Teves and his armed associates as terrorists.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said they were considering adding five or more people to the terrorist list.
These five people, he added, are not government officials but played “very pivotal roles” in the killing of Degamo and eight others on March 4. The Teves camp denounced the ATC declaration.
“This latest act on the part of the government against our client, Rep. Arnolfo Teves, comes as no surprise. Since Day One of the Degamo killing, the government has mobilized all the resources at its disposal — starting with immediately tagging Mr. Teves as the mastermind thereof without investigation, conducting illegal searches on his properties, laying siege to his powers and prerogatives as member of the House, embarking on a massive media campaign to discredit him and prejudice the minds of the public against him, among others — all in an obsessive attempt to blame him for a crime at the expense of his constitutional rights,” Topacio, Teves’ counsel, said in a statement.
“The agencies of government, having eggs on their faces due to the recantation of all key witnesses, lack of evidence against Rep. Teves, the public backlash against his obvious persecution, and the embarrassing failure of the authorities in bullying him into returning to the country in spite of grave and serious threats to his life, has expectedly weaponized the Anti-Terror Act by using it for the purpose for which it was not designed. One only has to read the reasoned decision of the Supreme Court on this matter to know this to be true,” Topacio added.
Topacio said the ATC’s “terrorist” tagging “is a sad day for the Rule of Law in this country, and a shocking reminder that even under constitutional and republican regime, the return to a government of men and not of laws can always ensue, especially for those targeted for destruction by the present dispensation.”
“This development should send shivers down the spine of every citizen, for the liberties of none are safe unless the liberties of all are protected,” Topacio said.
In another development, police said a gunman allegedly used by Teves was killed in an operation in Bayawan City, Negros Oriental on Monday. The Police Regional Office identified the gunman as Alex Manegos Mayagma, and said he pointed his firearm toward the police officers when the authorities were serving him an arrest warrant.