Bringing home Teves may take longer – NBI

BRINGING home expelled Negros Oriental congressman Arnolfo Teves Jr. from Timor-Leste could take weeks because a Timorese court is still evaluating the request of the Philippines and the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) for his custody.

“They have a process in Timor-Leste. They are still evaluating our request,” said National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Medardo de Lemos, who led a Philippine team to Timor-Leste to carry out the red notice issued by the Interpol against Teves.

Expelled Negros Oriental congressman Arnolfo Teves Jr. File Photo

A red notice is a request for law enforcement worldwide to locate and arrest a person pending his or her extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.

He said his team was informed the court process could take between seven and 40 days to complete.

“Timor-Leste has its process. We respect all the processes of all countries where the Philippines is a requesting party,” de Lemos said.

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Teves was arrested while he was playing golf at a driving range in the Timorese capital of Dili on March 21.

He is accused of masterminding the assassination of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo on March 4, 2023.

Teves also faces multiple murder charges in connection with a series of killings in Negros Oriental in 2019.

The Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) classified him as a terrorist in August last year.

The NBI started coordinating with Timor-Leste police intelligence service director Longhino Montiero and Interpol National Central Bureau (NCB) director Vicente Fernandez Brito as early as March 1.

Last March 21, de Lemos and a six-member NBI team flew to Timor-Leste to present Timorese authorities with documents regarding the cases involving Teves.

“What was agreed upon is that we will submit all the necessary documents that will support the NBI’s position on why a red notice has been issued against Teves,” de Lemos said.

Among the documents were the arrest warrant against Teves and the court order for the cancellation of his passport, and copies of the resolution issued by the ATC designating the former lawmaker as a terrorist.

Two hours after arriving in Timor-Leste, the team was told by local authorities that Teves had been arrested.

De Lemos said they requested a picture of the arrested person to verify if it was Teves.

“The first day was very difficult for us. We expected the picture would be provided to us or that we would be allowed to take a picture of the person they arrested as proof of life. We waited all day,” he said. “We felt that we were being given a hard time.” To speed up Teves’ repatriation, the team sought an audience with Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta.

De Lemos said they talked with Horta for nearly one hour during which they asked to be allowed to take a photo of the person who was arrested.

When they returned to the detention center, local authorities still refused to grant their request.

Even the fingerprints of the arrested person were not provided to the team, de Lemos said.

There were heated arguments between the Philippine delegation and Timorese authorities, he said.

“We waited for the tension to subside. Finally, we thought of sending our female agents to reiterate our request. Which turned out to be effective,” he said.

He said they were finally allowed to take a picture of the detained person who turned out to be Teves.

Teves’ lawyer Ferdinand Topacio had claimed that the NBI team tried to smuggle in a phone with a camera at the detention center to secretly take a picture of his client.

Topacio also said the two members of the team were later “disallowed to visit.” De Lemos said the purpose of the NBI’s trip to Timor-Leste was not to bring home Teves.

“What we wanted was to make sure that it was Teves who was indeed arrested. We know that a foreign country has its own process to follow and we respect that,” he said.

De Lemos said the Philippine embassy in Dili will monitor the court proceedings.

“Like our foreign counterparts, when there is a request here, they are not allowed to participate in the enforcement operation. The same goes for us there,” he said.

He said Horta expressed his desire for the court process to be finished as soon as possible.

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