Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla disclosed Monday that the filing of murder complaints against suspended Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. has been pushed back.
This was after several suspects-turned-witnesses in the assassination of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo have now refused to cooperate after lawyering up.
Remulla said the Department of Justice was supposed to file the charges on Monday, adding that the cases against Teves would be filed “most probably on Wednesday,” May 17, before the DOJ by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
He cited the reasons for the delay, such as the suspects already in the custody of law enforcement agencies starting to be represented by lawyers.
“They were provided with lawyers by some people who are paying for their lawyers who were not there before,” Remulla said.
The DOJ chief said the department also had to review available records on the suspects who now refused to speak about the matter.
According to Remulla, before the appearance of the private lawyers, whose names he did not disclose, there were six persons who surrendered to the military for their alleged involvement in the killings.
He noted that those who surrendered were “brought quickly to the NBI for debriefing and questioning and were provided with counsel from the Public Attorney’s Office.”
“But when we were already pursuing the participation of Cong. Teves,” lawyers started representing those in custody, the DOJ chief said.
“Obviously, some people are interested in the statements they want to give and now they don’t want to cooperate anymore,” he also said.
“There’s a conspiracy and there’s probably people with a lot of money operating within the conspiracy to be able to afford the lawyers they are now getting,” Remulla added.
However, the DOJ chief said, “that will not stop us from filing the proper cases because the statements have been given much earlier… with CCTV (closed circuit television cameras) and cameras and in front of witnesses and PAO lawyers.”
“We suspect that they will change their statements later on and may make recantations of sorts,” Remulla said. “But we’re not afraid of that because everything was clearly given and said in front of counsel and other people.”
Teves has been linked by at least two of the suspects as “one of the masterminds” in the killing of Degamo.
He has been suspended as a legislator and has refused to return to the Philippines despite the expiration of his travel authority last March 9.
Teves had also applied for asylum with the government of Timor Leste, which denied his request.
Since day one of his alleged involvement in the Degamo killing, Teves has repeatedly denied the allegations against him.
