The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) maintained that it has strong cases against Negros Oriental Rep. Arnulfo Teves and other personalities arrested during the raids in his houses despite the decision of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to dismiss one of the eight cases it filed against the solon.
Col. Jean Fajardo, spokesperson of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said the CIDG is still waiting for the official copy of the DOJ panel resolution to review and assess what went wrong and see if there is a need to file a motion for reconsideration.
“The CIDG believes that it has strong cases for the rest of the cases filed that are now undergoing preliminary investigation. The only ground for the dismissal of this specific case was that it was not established that the firearms and explosives are registered under the name of Congressman Teves,” said Fajardo.
“While we consider the dismissal of one case as a minor setback, this will not affect the other cases,” she added.
Teves and his two sons, along with six others that include the solon’s secretary, were charged in connection with the confiscation of firearms, bullets and explosive materials in a series of raids conducted by the CIDG on at least five houses owned by Teves.
Teves’ secretary and another one arrested in the operations were ordered released by the DOJ earlier.
The raids were based on the search warrants issued and officials said the operations were not related to the killing of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo but on the killings that happened in the province in 2019.
The next preliminary investigation on the charges filed by the CIDG is on March 22.
“So let us allow the CIDG to decide if they need to file a motion for consideration or submit other documents to at least convince the DOJ that there is enough probable cause to charge Congressman Teves particularly in this case,” said Fajardo.