Negros Oriental 3rd district Rep. Arnie Teves has sought help from President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. in order to "protect himself and his family".
The controversial congressman made this appeal in a video message posted on his Facebook.
The 16-minute long video, uploaded on Monday morning, March 6, served as Teves' initial reaction to the broad-daylight assassination of his provincemate, Governor Roel Degamo.
"Nakakatakot ang mga ganitong pangyayari. Kaya ako ay nanawagan sa ating magaling at mabait na Presidente: Sir, Mr. President BBM, umaapela ako (These incidents are frightening, that's why I'm calling on our good and kind President: Sir, Mr. President BBM, I'm appealing to you)," he said.
"Pakisabihan yung tao niyo na ipabalik na ang aking lisensya ng mga baril para naman sa aking proteksyon at proteksyon ng aking pamilya (Please tell you subordinate to return my license for my guns, for my own protection and that of my family's),"" Teves said.
In January, Teves publicly complained against Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benhur, saying the latter was "taking it personally against him".
Teves continued in the video: "There was a time na kasabay nung tinanggalan ako ng lisensya ng baril, tinanggalan pa ako ng bodyguards (There was that time when they took away my bodyguards at the same time as they took my firearm license)."
"Kailan lang, nalaman ko nananan na may order nanaman na mag-search warrant sa lahat ng may unlicensed firearms (Just recently, I learned that there was another order to conduct search warrant on all those who owned unlicensed firearms)," said the Visayan, who bared in the video that he was currently out of the country.
"Pagbalik ko, agad-agad, isusurrender ko na ang aking mga baril. Partial lang yung unang na-surrender (Once I get back, I will immediately surrender my guns. What I surrendered before was just partial)," he said.
"Isi-surrender ko po lahat yun ayon sa batas dahil walang tao above the law (I will surrender all of those according to the law, because no one is above the law)," Teves said.
He also clarified that he wasn't being belligerent to the government.
"Again hindi ko kinakalaban ang ating gobyeno, sino ba naman ni Arnie para lumaban sa gobyerno? Ako ay ordinaryong tao lamang (Again I'm not being hostile against our government, who is Arnie to be hostile against the government? I'm just an ordinary person)," he said.
In the same video message, Teves said that he expected to be implicated in Degamo's death. But he claimed that he or his brother, former Negros Oriental governor Henry Teves, won't gain any "benefit" from the incident.