Marcos gives Teves a security assurance — and a warning

President Marcos on Wednesday urged Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. to return to the Philippines and face the criminal allegations hounding him for the past two weeks, assuring him of tight security upon landing.

“The only advice I can give to Cong. Arnie is that your situation will become more difficult if this will continue. So the sooner you get home, you will have more options,” Mr. Marcos told reporters at a Philippine Army event in Taguig City.

“If it [gets] too late, the government will be forced; we will have to move without any discussions with him,” he further warned.

On Tuesday night, Teves, who had defied a House ultimatum for him to face a committee hearing in person earlier that day, again took to social media, posting a 17-minute video asking for “fairness’’ while stressing he was “not in hiding.”

Mr. Marcos said Teves, who had been linked to the March 4 assassination of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo and also to a series of killings in the province in 2019, could reenter the country wherever he wanted, noting that he had a private jet that could be permitted to land at Basa Air Base in Pampanga.

Threat belied by intel

“To reassure him, we will provide all kinds of security, whatever he wants… He will be surrounded by soldiers. No one can come near him within a kilometer, that will guarantee his security.”

According to the President, and contrary to the lawmaker’s earlier statements, the government’s intelligence community had not monitored any threat on Teves’ life.

He said the government had “made all of these offers” to Teves, but that the lawmaker had yet to make a decision. He does not have any direct contact with Teves but Speaker Martin Romualdez has been in touch with the congressman, he added.

Teves, who left for the United States on Feb. 28 reportedly for stem cell treatment, was given until March 21 to appear before the committee on ethics and privileges, which had called for him after his travel authority expired on March 9.

‘All I want is fairness’

On Monday, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla told reporters, without elaborating, that Teves was already in Southeast Asia.

In his latest Facebook video, the second to touch on the Degamo case, Teves appealed for fairness as the government looked into his alleged role in the killing of his political rival in an attack that also left eight other people dead.

“In an investigation, isn’t it proper to present the evidence first before the suspect or mastermind is identified? What happened here in Negros Oriental? They already identified a suspect and then submitted the evidence that would pin down the mastermind that they had in mind. Isn’t that wrong?” he said, adding: “That should not be the case. All I want is fairness, not to pin down a particular person. I hope they will consider all the angles. In this murder case, I was immediately singled out.”

“I’m appealing to our beloved President: What is being done to me by some people in government is already too much. They have crushed and oppressed me.’’

The lawmaker earlier requested the House leadership for a two-month leave of absence, citing a “very grave security threat” to his life and family, a claim disputed by the Speaker—and now by the President as well.

Message to Speaker

Teves also said he had heard of rumors that Mr. Marcos had given orders to make him answer for Degamo’s death. “To be honest, I didn’t believe that President BBM ordered to further pin me down. I know that you, Mr. President, have nothing to do with this. I, like Degamo, is also a victim here… of those who want to advance their personal agenda,” he said.

As to the House ultimatum, he said the ethics panel “wanted to hear me out’’ yet didn’t allow him to face them via Zoom.

“(The committee) insisted I attend face-to-face. I don’t understand why. I asked (for a Zoom meeting) because of the serious and grave threat to my life,” he said. “I was absent only for a few days. Suddenly it’s being questioned before the ethics committee. Why don’t we release the attendance record of the entire 17th, 18th, 19th Congress?”

Addressing Romualdez, he said: “Boss Mart, sorry that I cannot heed your call for me to come home. I hope you won’t pin me down any further. I don’t want to pick a fight with you, for who am I to challenge the government, the Speaker and others? All that I can do is to speak the truth.”