The lawyer of expelled Negros Oriental congressman Arnolfo "Arnie" A. Teves Jr. said on Friday, Sept. 8, he is considering the filing of administrative and criminal charges against Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors who filed in court murder cases against the former legislator.

Ten counts of murder, 12 counts of frustrated murder, and four counts of attempted murder have been filed against Teves and several other accused before the Manila regional trial court (RTC) for the killings of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel R. Degamo and nine other persons last March 4 in the province's Pamplona town.

The Manila RTC has issued an arrest order against Teves who remained abroad despite the expiration of his travel authority last March 9 while he was still a member of Congress.  After two suspensions, he was expelled as a legislator.

Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, in a press conference, said: “We are seriously considering our options” on the filing of charges against DOJ prosecutors and what they would do in the arrest order issued by the court against his client.

Topacio said he has yet to receive the warrant of arrest issued by Manila RTC Branch 51 against Teves and his co-accused and  even the resolution of the DOJ panel of prosecutors that found probable cause to indict his client.

He said that once he gets a copy of the panel’s resolution, Topacio said he would know "bakit ganoon ang naging resolution nila notwithstanding the fact na hinarap po sa kanila ‘yung sampung witnesses at sa harap po ng panel ay nagrecant ‘yung mga witnesses (why they issued such resolution despite the fact they were presented 10 witnesses who recanted their testimonies that they and Teves were involved in the crime.”

The 10 witnesses are also accused in the criminal charges.  They are Rogelio Antipolo Jr., Rommel Pattaguan, Winrich Isturis, John Louie Gonyon, Dahniel Lora, Eulogio Gonyon Jr., Joric Labrador, Joven Javier, Benjie Rodriguez, and Jhudiel Rivero.

 “We want to know why para magawan po namin ng hakbang (so that we can take steps), not only with respect to the procedure of going up to the Court of Appeals, but possibly for seeing whether those prosecutors who decided are administratively or criminally liable for deliberately ignoring certain evidence,” he explained.

He said the panel's resolution is supposed to be appealable before the DOJ through the submission of a petition for review, however, it will have to be filed before Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla.

“Ang appeal po d’yan is through the secretary which may be futile sapagkat ipinakita na naman po ng Department of Justice ang kanilang bias and partiality against Cong. Teves (The appeal there is through the secretary which may be futile because the DOJ has been biased against Cong. Teves),” he lamented.

He said “prejudged nga ang kasong ito dahil ang mismong secretary of justice na ang nagsabi na angtimano ay may kasalanan siya (the case is already pre-judged because the justice secretary himself said that Teves is guilty).”

At the same time during the press conference, Topacio said an appeal has been filed before the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) seeking to delist Teves from his designation as terrorist.

“Ang tingin ko inuupuan nila ito para hindi kami makakilos (I think they are sitting on the appeal so we could not act),” he alleged.

Thus, he urged the ATC to immediately rule on the appeal of Teves to be delisted as a terrorist.

“If we do not agree with the ruling then we can go to court,” he said.