THE lawyer of Negros Oriental Rep. Arnie Teves over the weekend said firearms, ammunition, and explosive seized from the lawmaker’s residences were probably “planted.”
“These would not just materialize out of nowhere because we know, no firearms were being kept in any of the houses of the congressman,” Teves’ lawyer Ferdinand Topacio said.
According to Topacio, he and Teves held a press conference in January after receiving information from a tipster that the lawmaker’s houses would be raided for loose firearms.
“The supposed instruction made to the raiding team was to plant whatever kind of evidence that will result in the arrest of Representative Teves,” Topacio said.
He said that as a precaution, they decided to surrender all of the guns that were in the possession of the congressman, as the Philippine National Police (PNP) was moving to revoke Teves’ License To Own and Possess Firearm (LTOPF).
The lawyer said they had already anticipated several scenarios when Teves’ name was linked to the assassination of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo, and that they made sure no guns were stored inside the houses of the congressman.
According to reports, two firearms suspected of being used in the killing of Degamo and others were recovered in one of Teves’ houses.
At least three more people were arrested during the simultaneous raids conducted on the strength of a search warrant issued by the Regional Trial Court in Mandaue City.
Recovered during the simultaneous raids were three grenades, ten short firearms, six M4 rifles, 465 live ammunition, 22 assorted magazines, and 194 empty shells.
