The Manila Times

NBI nabs Degamo slay‘main player’

BY FRANCO JOSE C. BAROÑA AND EUGENE Y. ADIONG

ONE of the main suspects in the killing of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo has been arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said on Friday the suspect, which he did name, is one of the “main players” in Degamo’s assassination.

Remulla called the suspect’s arrest “a breakthrough,” and declared that the case is “99 percent solved.”

“The NBI was able to catch a main player ... a name we have not discussed, we have never discussed here.

But practically, I would say in my reading of the situation, one of the masterminds was caught today,” he said.

Remulla said the suspect was no longer in Negros Oriental when he was apprehended, and that the authorities have been tracking him for over two weeks.

Remulla said the person’s name was mentioned in the affidavits of the other suspects already in NBI custody.

“He is really one of those that we were looking for,” he said. “We were able to focus on that and I want to congratulate NBI for a job well done.”

Remulla said that details about the suspect will be revealed on April 3.

“I’m just telling you that there’s a breakthrough, it’s 99 percent solved. The Degamo case is 99 percent solved,” he said.

Because of the latest development, the filing of the complaints against the other suspects scheduled on Friday did not push through.

At least two to three suspects are still being hunted down by the police.

Twelve suspects are now in NBI custody.

Remulla said Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. remains as a primary suspect in the case and that Teves fits “right in there ... in the middle of everything.”

Teves has been implicated as a mastermind in the killing of his family’s fierce political rival.

The attack at Degamo’s residence in Pamplona town also resulted in the death of eight other individuals.

Teves, who is supposedly on medical leave in the United States, has refused appeals, including one from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., to return to the country and face the allegations.

Teves’ younger brother, Henry Pryde, surrendered 18 firearms to police in Negros Oriental on Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon.

Teves turned in the guns after their licenses were revoked following the raid on the sugar mill compound that he owns last weekend.

Authorities have unearthed stashes of firearms, ammunition and bomb parts inside the compound.

Chelo Villarubia, Teves’ secretary, brought four .22 caliber rifles, a 9mm rifle, a 7.62mm rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun and seven handguns to the Bayawan City Police Station, the station chief, LtCol. Stephen Amamag-id, said.

Villarubia said all the firearms Teves surrendered were registered and licensed under his name.

Villarubia said that when Teves’ License to Own and Possess Firearms (LTOPF) was revoked on Wednesday, he decided to surrender all of the registered firearms he owned.

Last Wednesday, Teves also signed a waiver allowing the Department of Justice (DoJ) to look into his phone and bank records.

Several high-powered firearms, thousands of ammunition, explosives, and stacks of cash worth P18 million have been seized by authorities in the raids between March 24 and 27 at the Tolong Sugar Milling Corp., in Sta. Catalina town.

Teves faces possible charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

He said he only has a 10 percent share in the sugar mill.

Police also reported that personal belongings believed to be owned by suspects in the March 4 killing of Degamo were excavated by investigators at the sugar mill compound last Thursday.

A team from the Joint Task Force Negros and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) dug up an ATM card, a membership card for Armed Forces and Police Mutual Benefit Association Inc. (AFPMBAI), ID cards for Palawan and Cebuana Lhuillier pawn shops, and other documents.

One ID card bore the name of Osmondo Rivero, the selfconfessed driver of the getaway car used in the Degamo killing, and a certificate was written out to Joven Calibio Javier, another suspect in the case.

Javier was among the three suspects arrested hours after the Degamo assassination.

Also recovered were a silencer, soldering iron, a flash drive, rifle cleaning equipment, caliber .45 cartridges, a Swiss knife, and a tucker used for target papers.

Authorities have been searching the 50-hectare sugar mill compound since last Friday.

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2023-04-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-04-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://manilatimes.pressreader.com/article/281590949827772

The Manila Times