Ethics panel to continue hearing Teves case as suspension ends
Negros Oriental 3rd district Rep. Arnolfo "Arnie" Teves Jr. (left), COOP-NATCCO Party-list Rep. Felimon Espares (Facebook, Contributed photo)
The House Committee on Ethics and Privileges will continue to hear the case of the controversial Negros Oriental 3rd district Rep. Arnolfo "Arnie" Teves Jr. on Monday, May 29. Committee chairman, COOP-NATCCO Party-list Rep. Felimon Espares personally announced this Tuesday, May 23 after confirming that the panel has once again taken jurisdiction of the case of Teves, who is considered absent without official leave. "This committee again [was] able to acquire the jurisdiction by motu proprio to further investigate the absences of our member after the lapse of [the] 60-day suspension...yesterday (May 22)," Espares told House reporters following a closed-door hearing of the committee. Last March 22, House members unanimously voted to penalize Teves with the two-month suspension for "disorderly behavior". Teves has been out of the country since Feb. 28. His travel authority from the House indicated that he should've been back home by March 10. The former deputy speaker was recently filed with murder charges in connection with the March 4 assassination of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo. Teves has repeatedly said that he refuses to go home for fear of his life. He went as far as to apply for political asylum in Timor-Leste earlier this month. Although it was rejected, his asylum attempt will surely be discussed by the Espares panel, among other details. "Again, we will be continuing our committee process dito (here), so we have scheduled again another Committee hearing on the 29th of this month in order to hear and process the case," said Espares. The ethics committee had rejected Teves' attempts to join previous hearings via videoconferencing. As per the panel members, Teves must attend the hearings in person. The 60-day suspension against Teves, which the committee recommended to the plenary in March, is unprecedented in the House.