By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
Negros Oriental 3rd district Congressman Arnolfo Teves, Jr. denied any involvement in the shooting incident that killed Governor Roel Degamo and eight others in the province’s Pamplona town, in a 16-minute video posted on his social media account yesterday.
In the video, Teves hardly mentioned the name of the slain governor, but he commented that he and his brother, former governor Henry Pryde Teves, would not be the ones who would benefit from Degamo’s death.
He added that if he ever had any plans or ability to commit the incident, he would have done it prior to the elections.
“Ano ang motibo kung ngayon [ko] gagawin ‘di ba? Hindi rin ako ang magiging benepisyaryo or ang kapatid ko dahil kung mawawala ang gobernador eh, vice governor naman ang uupo. Hindi naman kapatid ko na talaga nanalo noong eleksyon,” Teves said.
According to Teves, he is currently in the United States undergoing stem cell treatment.
He said he feared that the incident would take place for a very long time, and said he would be accused of the incident.
“Ngayon, napag-alaman ko na meron ibang tao diyan na gusto ako idiin,” Teves said.
He has been receiving reliable reports from his own sources that someone will try to implicate him.
“Alam mo kung sino ka, ‘wag niyo naman ako sanang gawin na isang instrumento para sa iyong pagsikat,” Teves said.
He said the incident was neither desirable nor beneficial for the progress of his own district and the entire Negros Oriental.
Following the incident, Teves made a public appeal to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. to intervene in his firearms case and allow his security detail to be rearmed for his family’s safety.
In January of this year, the Philippine National Police (PNP) Firearms and Explosives Office revoked Teves’ firearm licenses after they discovered several irregularities with their documents.
The PNP will also order to recall Teves’ police security after lapses were discovered in the deployment of his security detail wherein they were not connected with the Police Security Protection Group./DGB, WDJ