'May pera naman ako': Teves says he doesn't need to steal Ong's tocino business
A plate of tocino (left), Negros Oriental 3rd district Rep. Arnolfo "Arnie" Teves Jr. (Panlasangpinoy.com, Facebook)
Who needs to be engaged in the tocino business? Negros Oriental 3rd district Rep. Arnolfo "Arnie" Teves Jr. says, not him. In an ANC Headstart interview Thursday morning, April 20, the controversial lawmaker responded to claims made by Negros Oriental-based businessman Jason Ong that he wanted to "steal" the latter's tocino business. "Yung nagsabi na aagawin ko yung negosyo ng tocino. Grabe naman. Negosyo ng tocino? Magkano lang kita nun, wala pa atang isang libo isang araw (To the person who said I wanted to steal his business of tocino. Give me a break. A tocino business? That probably doesn't even earn P1,000 in profits per day)," Teves said. "Pero ipagpalagay sampung libo. May pera naman ako, ma'am. Hindi ko kailangan ng tocino business (But let’s say it earns P10,000. I have money, ma'am. I don't need a tocino business), he told anchor Karen Davila. Tocino, a Filipino breakfast staple, is sweet-cured meat. It is usually made with pork. Teves went on to criticize Ong for the other things that he said during Wednesday's public hearing at the Senate. "At isa pa ma'am, adik si Ong, yung nagsabi. Di ba sabi niya, adik siya (And one more thing, ma'am, Ong is an addict, the one who is accusing me of stealing the tocino business. Didn't he say he was an addict)...he admitted using 'shabu'," Teves said as he shook his head. Ong admitted to using illegal drugs as a student, as well as to having been charged in connection with a drugs abroad, during the Senate panel hearing. Teves first became Negros Oriental 3rd district representative on June 30, 2016, or at the start of the 17th Congress. In August 2016, Teves grabbed headlines by admitting that he was a “former longtime drug addict”. He also said that, at that point, he had been sober for over 16 years.