DETAINED former Negros Oriental representative Arnolfo Teves Jr. successfully underwent an appendectomy at the Philippine General Hospital, his lawyer said Wednesday, June 18, 2025.
In a statement, Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, Teves’ legal counsel, said the former lawmaker is now recuperating well following a “potentially life-threatening condition.”
Topacio said the medical emergency of Teves also exposed the inadequacy of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in responding to such situations.
“If it took several hours for a high-profile prisoner such as Representative Teves to be given medical attention, we shudder at how the BJMP will treat ordinary detainees. It also shows how a detained person—who, after all, is presumed innocent—is deprived of his right to seek his own choice of treatment and medical professionals to attend to him, by illogical and archaic rules biased against private hospitals,” Topacio said.
Topacio also slammed the trial courts for not following the directives of the Supreme Court on the issuance of commitment orders, and the “folly” of those involved in celebrated cases making public statements without “knowing all the facts.”
He said the incident showed the “potentially fatal” result of the trial court’s defiance.
“The operation performed on Mr. Teves proves that, far from being ‘drama’, the complaint of a medical condition was legitimate. It was only the persistent and untiring efforts of Mr. Teves’ family and close friends, assisted by us, their lawyers, that saved Mr. Teves’ life,” Topacio said.
Teves was rushed to the hospital from his detention in Camp Bagong Diwa Tuesday morning, June 17, due to severe stomach pains he had been experiencing since midnight.
He was transferred to the PGH later in the afternoon, where he underwent an appendectomy.
Teves is facing 11 counts of murder, 13 counts of frustrated murder, four counts of attempted murder, illegal possession of firearms and explosives, and violations of the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act.
He was tagged as the mastermind in the killing of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo, along with several other innocent civilians in broad daylight on March 4, 2023, and three other individuals in the province in 2019, including Miguel Dungog, a former board member of Negros Oriental.
Teves was arrested in Dili City, Timor-Leste, on May 27 and was immediately deported back to the Philippines. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)