MURDER suspect and former Negros Oriental representative Arnolfo “Arnie” Teves Jr. has been confirmed to be in Timor-Leste.
Pamplona Mayor Janice Degamo, in a Facebook post on Friday night, Sept. 29, 2023, posted a video showing Teves embracing former senator Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao on the latter’s arrival in Timor-Leste this week.
The mayor is the widow of Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo, who was shot dead last March 4 in his residence in Pamplona town, along with nine others.
“Not only does this interaction raise serious ethical and legal questions, it undermines our nation’s international image,” Mayor Degamo wrote.
“And it demonstrates Arnie Teves’ continued disrespect for our laws and judicial system as he so brazenly flaunts his freedom while being actively hunted for the murders of 14 of our fellow NegOrenses, including my husband,” Degamo continued.
National media reports cited Department of Justice spokesperson Mico Clavano as saying Friday that the embrace occurred after a chance encounter at the airport and that Pacquiao made the trip to that Southeast Asian country not to see Teves, but to attend events to which he had been invited by Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos Horta.
Last Sept. 5, a Manila court issued an arrest warrant against the expelled Negros Oriental third district representative and three of his alleged cohorts over the killing of Governor Degamo and nine others.
Earlier, in July, the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) designated Teves, his brother former Negros Oriental governor Pryde Henry Teves, and 11 others as “terrorist individuals” after it tagged Teves as the mastermind in the killing of Degamo.
On August 16, Teves was expelled from the House of Representatives over his continued pursuit of political asylum, his continued unauthorized absence, and his indecent behavior as shown in a video of him dancing only in his undergarments.
Teves had repeatedly refused to follow the order of House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez to return to the country and physically attend to his work, citing threats to his life.