Senate President Juan Miguel ‘’Migz’’ Zubiri and Senator Joseph Victor ‘’JV’’ Ejercito on Saturday day, March 11, requested Negros Oriental Congressman Arnolfo Teves Jr. to return to the country and give his side to allegations that he has something to do with the ‘’well-planned’’ assassination of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo last March 4.

Should Teves refuse, Zubiri said the national government has the power to cancel his passport   which would pave the way for a request to the United States (US) to deport him.

Teves is reportedly in the US and his House of Representatives-issued travel authority has just expired.

‘’This is an act of political terrorism," he said, adding that the killers were heavily armed and that the assassination had been ‘’well-planned and well-financed’’ since last year.

They even had an rocket-propelled grenade (RPG), a tank killer, sniper rifles, he added.

A lady barangay captain who embraced Degamo during the shooting was mercilessly cut down, he said.

Zubiri said the President is really angry over the Degamo incident.

He said the incident has a negative effect on the President’s appeal on foreign investors to come to the Philippines.

Because of the Degamo incident, Zubiri said he has four security men - two in the Senate and two in his Bukidnon province residence. 

During a DWIZ radio interview, Ejercito said Teves should return home.

‘’Sabi nga nila flight means guilt. kailangan uwi agad at kung wala kang kinalaman patunayan (They say flight means guilt. He should come home immediately and prove his innocence),’’ he added.

Ejercito said it is definite that there is a powerful person behind the Degamo killing, shown by the kinds of powerful firearms the killers used.

He pointed out that five of the six policemen detailed to secure Degamo did not report during that fateful day and the sixth who was there should be investigated.

‘’Pinakagrabe itong kay Gov. Degamo na talagang blatant walang takot...mukhang mensahe ito may nagpapahiwatig na kumbaga dont mess with me (The most serious of political killings is the Degamo case where the killers were not afraid and their messages is don’t mess with me). I think yun ang personal assessment ko, the way it was done...kitang kita na well-
funded, nag-train, synchronized ang galaw, maganda ang kagamitan, most of these assassinations karamihan dito ay politically-motivated (The killing was well-funded, well-trained and their movements were synchronized, had modern equipment..most of the assassinations are politically motivated),’’ he added.

He said he has just bought a gun and would soon be in the firing range like Zubiri and Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva.