An official of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Wednesday said Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr., now wanted for murder, had threatened to sue him after he led a raid last year on an online cockfighting livestreaming hub in Cebu.
Testifying before the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, NBI Region VII Director Rennan Augustus Oliva affirmed the statements of Pamplona Mayor Janice Degamo linking the Teves family to the operations of e-sabong, which is considered illegal in the Philippines.
Three days after the NBI conducted the raid, Oliva said he was told that Teves wanted to talk to him about the operation. Although the case was already in court, Oliva said the caller was insistent that he meet Teves.
On Sept. 20, 2022, Teves and his entourage arrived at the NBI office.
Teves started by stating that he was not connected to e-sabong, and that he had already delegated that to his friends. He then asked Oliva who had authorized the raid.
Oliva told him that it was the NBI director, in line with an order from then-President Rodrigo Duterte to stop e-sabong activities.
“I was then surprised about his response to me,” Oliva said. “He told me he will sue my men for stealing P7 million at the cockpit.”
He said Teves offered to spare him from the suit if he would not launch more raids against e-sabong.
Oliva said they seized streaming paraphernalia, computers, and P2.6 million in cash during the raid.
“I just laughed because I told him you cannot [make] me betray my oath as a law enforcement officer… I told him frankly, ‘If you want to file the case, you file the case against me. I will answer it because it is not true. I am not afraid,’” Oliva said.
“On February 28, 2023, five months after we raided the e-sabong operation, a case was filed against me and my men before the Office of the Ombudsman for Visayas for irregularity in the service of the search warrant and fabricated a story that we stole… from P7 million to P9 million… Video was spread on social media showing spliced portions of CCTV footage. They intentionally omitted the inventory conducted by the arresting officer in the presence of the lawyers as well as barangay officials,” Oliva said.
Senator Ronald dela Rosa, chairman of the panel, expressed dismay that Teves had threatened Oliva.
“If he said that to me, I would reply, ‘How dare you? Who are you to tell me this?’” said dela Rosa, a former police chief.
“This is how syndicates work. If I cannot strike a deal with the complainant, I will talk to the police. If the police say no, the syndicate will approach the fiscal or prosecutor handling the case. If I cannot strike a deal with the prosecutor, I will pour much money into the hands of the judge who is handling the case so this can be fixed,” dela Rosa said in Filipino.
Siaton Mayor Fritz Diaz also told the Senate panel that a week after Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo assumed office, they sought help from authorities in Manila to stop the e-sabong.
The governor was shot and killed by armed men on March 4 while he was distributing aid to beneficiaries at his residence in Barangay San Isidro in Pamplona, Negros Oriental.
Two suspects named a certain “Cong Teves” as the person behind the fatal attack against the local official. Teves’ lawyer dismissed the claim.
Teves, who is out of the country, has refused to return to face the charges against him, saying he fears for his life. He has also denied any role in the assassination of Degamo.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, meanwhile, has ordered the creation of a special task force which will handle the 23 cases of political killings in Negros Oriental, including that of Degamo.
Justice Undersecretary Jesse Hermogenes Andres made the disclosure after the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs formally requested the DOJ to create a special panel of prosecutors as the senators expressed alarm over cases of political killings in the province that remain unsolved.
Dela Rosa, chairman of the panel, thanked Remulla for heeding the panel’s request.
For the convenience of the witnesses and the complainants, Andres said the task force hearings can be held either in Cebu or in Manila, depending on the request of the witnesses.
Andres also said several witnesses who appeared before the Senate panel were already assisted by the DOJ’s Witness Protection Program (WPP).
“We were able to talk to at least three of them already and the WPP director is already discussing the procedures for their formal admission into the program so that they can be properly given assistance and security protection,” Andres said.
He said the task force might be composed of five prosecutors who will “continue to see the prosecution of these cases up to their logical conclusion, not only with respect with the preliminary investigation, but even to the conduct of the trial proper for all of these cases.”
“This is our insight where we cannot allow the cases to be transferred to people who do not have any idea of the case build up. We want those who are part of the case build up to actively prosecute and participate in the conduct of the trial,” the DOJ official said.
Andres said the DOJ has found probable cause to file cases in connection with the 20 political killings in Negros Oriental from 2019 to 2023.
“All of them have already been filed in court. Meaning that the DOJ has found probable cause against the accused, and they will all be held for trial for murder, frustrated murder, and attempted murder as the case may be,” Andres said.
He said the cases will be raffled off and warrants of arrest will be issued against the respective accused in the cases.
Pamplona Mayor Janice Degamo called on the Philippine National Police to change its rule on public presentation of suspects.
During Wednesday’s Senate hearing of the committee on public order and dangerous drugs on the killing of his husband, Mayor Degamo said that it is the time to revise PNP’s rule of not presenting suspects to the public.
Degamo said that former Dumaguete City Police chief Col. Sawan refused to present the photos of police officer Noel Alabata, who was arrested for the shooting incident involving small business owners in Dumaguete City.