Raids on Teves’ homes and those of his relatives yield 15 firearms

ABOUT 15 firearms were confiscated from the houses of Negros Oriental Third District Representative Arnolfo “Arnie” Teves Jr. and his relatives when the police served the search warrants there on Friday morning, March 10, 2023.

Colonel Thomas Valmonte, chief of the Legal Division of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), said the operation had nothing to do with the killing of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Ragay Degamo and eight other people in the governor’s residential compound in Pamplona town on Saturday, March 4.

He said the search of Teves' properties, which included a beach resort, was part of the flagship program of the CIDG called “Oplan Paglalansag” to recover loose firearms.

The weapons confiscated from the controversial congressman’s homes included high-powered and low-powered firearms, hand grenade and grenade launcher ammunition that have no permits from the Firearms and Explosives Office.

The people who were in the homes at the time of the operation were also nabbed for questioning.

“Sa inventory, hindi po namin masabi pa dahil lima po itong subject premises nga mga search warrant so may ibat-ibang klaseng firearms po,” Valmonte said.

(Based on the inventory, we could not say exactly yet because there are five subject premises covered by the search warrants, and there are different types of firearms there.)

The two properties of Teves in Basay town, including a beach resort, and a house in Barangay Malabugas, Bayawan City, and the two houses of his relatives Hannah Mae and Jojo Maturan in Bayawan were the targets of the search warrants.

As of Friday, March 10, it is still unclear what kind of firearms were taken from the homes of Maturan.

Valmonte said they received information that the Maturans also own guns without permits. (AYB/TPT)