Suspended Negros Oriental 3rd District Rep. Arnolfo “Arnie” A. Teves Jr. and his two sons – Kurt Matthew and Axel – on Friday, May 5, asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to dismiss the criminal charges filed against them for alleged violations of the laws on illegal possession of firearms and explosives. With the filing of the motions to dismiss during the hearing, the DOJ’s panel of prosecutors decided to submit for resolution the criminal charges filed by the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG). Teves and his sons were accused of violating Republic Act (RA) 10591 and RA 9516 for alleged illegal possession of firearms and explosives, respectively.  The alleged firearms and explosives were seized by the PNP-CIDG during the service of a search warrant in the legislator’s house in Bayawan City last March 10. Ferdinand Topacio, lawyer of the Teves family, asked the DOJ panel to be impartial despite the accusation of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla that the suspended legislator is “one of the masterminds” in the March 4 killings in Pamplona town where one of the victims was Negros Oriengal Gov. Roel R. Degamo. Teves, who is still abroad, has denied all the allegations against him. Topacio said the panel has two months to resolve the charges. “Time bound po ang panel under the 2017 rules ng national prosecution office. Sixty days po ay kailangan maglabas na sila (The panel is time-bound under the 2017 DOJ Revised Manual for Prosecutors. Within 60 days it has to release the resolution of the case),” he said. In the motion filed by Topacio for Teves, the DOH was told that the “complainants miserably failed to discharge their duty to establish probable cause against Respondent Teves Jr. as nothing has been shown to support his alleged constructive possession of any of the confiscated articles, much less of the premises where they were allegedly found.” “There is no question on the fact that Respondent Teves Jr. was not present when and where the alleged search and seizure transpired. This is settled from the complaints and supporting affidavits and other documents attached thereto. Physical or actual possession of any of the subject firearms, ammunition and explosives on his part is, therefore, necessarily absent,” the motion stated. Topacio said the firearms and explosives were illegal seized and should be inadmissible as evidence. He alleged that the PNP violated the rules in implementing search warrants based on the joint affidavit of Barangay Captain Andrew I. Barte and Kagawad Ulysses Ilagan, who both served as police witnesses, as well as the affidavits issued by the staff of Teves who were present during the implementation of the search warrant and even took videos of pictures. He said that witnesses disclosed that prior the presentation of the search warrant, members of the PNP’s Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) were already there at the house and were seen carrying large bags. “These SAF team members, who are necessarily part of the team implementing the search warrant, broke and violated the most basic of statutes and rules that proscribe unreasonable searches and seizure,” he also said. He pointed out that the rule violated is Section 8, Rule 126 of the Rules of Court which states: “No search of a house, room, or any premises shall be made except in the presence of the lawful occupant thereof or any member of his family or in the absence of the latter, two witnesses of sufficient age and discretion residing in the same locality.” At the same time, Topacio said the PNP-SAF violated the 2021 Supreme Court rules which require law enforcers to use of body-worn cameras during the implementation search warrants. He also alleged that “the barangay officials, or any other witnesses for that matter, were not present when the PNP-SAF team entered the house of Respondent Teves, Jr. with their bags” and that there was “some one-hour window within which the ‘clearing team’ consisting solely of SAF operatives, entered the residence and stayed there for some time without their action and activity being witnessed nor documented.” “From the foregoing statements of witnesses, the so called SAF ‘clearing team,’ consisting of around thirty (30) PNP-SAF authorities, employed in the implementation of the search warrant , as if exempted from the rules on the implementation of the search warrants, entered the said premises: 1) without the owner of the house; 2) without any witnesses; 3) without allowing any photographing or video recording of their activities; 4) without having subjected themselves to frisking; and, 5) without have their bags checked by anyone. Then, they took their time therein for around an hour, from around 4:00 a.m. to around 5:00 a.m.,” he said.