6-member NBI team returns from Timor without Teves

A team of the National Bureau of Investigation has returned from Timor-Leste empty-handed, without expelled congressman Arnolfo Teves Jr. in tow, amid efforts by the Philippine government to make him answer for the assassination of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo in March last year.

Teves was arrested while playing golf on the strength of representations by the Philippine government with the International Police and the government of Timor-Leste. Nine other people were killed in the assault on the Degamo residence by heavily armed men.

According to NBI Director Medardo de Lemos, a court in Timor-Leste will decide on the request made by Interpol and the Philippines to take custody of Teves.

The former lawmaker’s legal team said they are mulling various actions, including seeking political asylum in Timor-Leste or raising alleged violations of his rights before the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

“They have a process in Timor Leste; they are evaluating a request by Interpol and the Philippines,” de Lemos said in a TV interview. “Timor Leste has its own process. What we are saying is we respect all the processes of all countries where the Philippines is a requesting party.”

The Interpol placed Teves on its red notice at the request of the Philippine government. A red notice calls on Interpol-member countries to locate and arrest a wanted person for extradition.

The six-member NBI team led by de Lemos was supposed to escort Teves back to the Philippines from Timor-Leste, with the Timorese police providing the group with a photo — “a proof of life” — of Teves in detention.

Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta met the NBI team and approved the “proof of life documentation,” de Lemos said, denying the claim of Teves’ camp that the NBI itself took the photo to “harass” him.

Deportation proceedings in Timor-Leste take around 40 days, but Philippine and Timorese authorities are said to be amenable to fast-tracking the process.

Teves had already been charged with the murder of Degamo and nine others, as well as for the killing of three people in Negros Oriental in 2019.