DOJ vows to pursue Teves’ deportation
MANILA, Philippines — Department of Justice Spokesperson and Assistant Secretary Mico Clavano on Sunday expressed the DOJ’s commitment to pursue justice following after the lawyer of expelled Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr., dismissed the government’s bid to have his client promptly deported from Timor-Leste.
Teves’ lawyer, Ferdinand Topacio, previously called the National Bureau of Investigation and DOJ’s talk of Teves’ deportation as “nothing but pure and unadulterated balderdash.”
“The fugitive’s detention and custody is a success that we will use to our fullest advantage,” Clavano said in a statement.
Teves, a former Negros Oriental representative, is being tagged as the mastermind in the killing of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo and nine others in March 2023.
On March 21 this year, Interpol members arrested Teves who was playing golf in Timor-Leste, where he has been detained since.
“We also keep in mind the families of the victims who are eager to see the murderer of their loved one convicted. This case is important because the gruesome crime and how it was committed shows impunity – which cannot be tolerated in the country,” Clavano added.
Degamo and eight of his constituents were gunned down by a group of men in the governor’s residential compound in Pamplona town.
Following Teves’ arrest in Timor-Leste, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said that the Interpol is working on the former lawmaker’s extradition with its counterpart in Manila and the Philippine Embassy in Timor-Leste.
