News Roundup 13 March 2023
Mar 13, 2023 • 4 min Read
Teves ready to return to PH, face accusations but… | INQUIRER.NET – MANILA, Philippines — Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. is ready to return to the Philippines and face allegations that he was behind the brazen killing of Gov. Roel Degamo, but his legal team said Monday that the security of the congressman and his family needs to be ensured first.
Teves’s lawyers emphasized that the security of the lawmaker and his family is now a “big concern” following “recent developments” in which, according to Atty. Ferdinand Topacio, the rights of his client and the people associated with the congressman were “trampled upon.”
“Definitely, he intends to return to clear his name… However, in light of recent developments where the rights, not [just] of Cong. Teves but of others associated with him were trampled upon, may malaking concern na sa security niya (there’s a big concern on his security),” Topacio said during the weekly Pandesal Forum in Quezon City.
Atty. Toby Diokno, who was also in the press conference and introduced as Teves’s childhood friend, echoed Topacio’s statement reiterating that the beleaguered lawmaker wants to come home to the Philippines to answer the mounting accusations against him.
“We just have to secure his safety and the safety of his family before he could really decide when to return. It’s just a matter of when. If he will return, yes, he will return. It’s just a matter of when,” Diokno added.
Full Story at: Teves ready to return to PH, face accusations but… | Inquirer News
Degamo slay brains believed to be former soldier | INQUIRER.NET – MANILA, Philippines — The mastermind of the brazen killing of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo is believed to be a former soldier, Joint Task Force Negros spokesperson Maj. Cenon Pancito III said on Monday.
Pancito, who spoke on behalf of the 50-member light reaction company tasked to augment deployed forces in Negros Island following the Degamo killing, was asked on Monday if the brains behind the murder was also a former soldier like the four other suspected gunmen earlier arrested by authorities.
“We believe so. Based on the description, based on the training, there is [some] reason for us to believe that he is a former member of the Philippine Army,” he said in an interview on ABS-CBN News’ Headstart.
Full Story at: Degamo slay brains believed to be former soldier | Inquirer News
More than 5 years later, cop found guilty of murdering teens Carl-Kulot in ‘drug war’ op | PHILSTAR.COM – MANILA, Philippines — A Navotas court has found former policeman Jeffrey Perez guilty of killing teenagers Carl Angelo Arnaiz and Reynaldo “Kulot” De Guzman whose deaths in 2017 raised doubts about the Duterte administration’s bloody “war on drugs.”
The STAR newspaper reported that the Navotas Regional Trial Court Branch 287 found Perez guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the murders of Arnaiz and De Guzman. He was sentenced to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua or up to 40 years in prison, “without eligibility of parole.”
This is the second known conviction of police officers in the “war on drugs” campaign of the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte, although the case of the two teenagers took longer than five years to resolve.
Perez had a fellow police officer as co-accused in the case, but Patrolman Ricky Arquilita died in prison of suspected viral hepatitis B in April 2019.
Perez and Arquilita were accused of beating up the teenagers before killing them in 2017.
Full Story at: More than 5 years later, cop found guilty of murdering teens Carl-Kulot in ‘drug war’ op | Philstar.com
122 reported sick in Oriental Mindoro due to oil spill | PHILSTAR.COM – MANILA, Philippines — Over a hundred people in Oriental Mindoro have fallen ill after oil from a sunken tanker reached their shores, the province’s governor said Monday.
Governor Humerlito Dolor told Teleradyo that 122 individuals — mostly middle-aged men and women and children — have gotten sick.
“[Problems] related to respiratory system and rashes were often reported,” Dolor said.
He added that toxicologists from the Batangas Medical Center are monitoring the affected residents and providing treatment to the sick.
The Department of Health earlier advised senior citizens and people with respiratory illnesses living in areas exposed to the oil spill to temporarily evacuate.
It added that those living 100 meters from affected areas need to wear an industrial mask, instead of a surgical mask, and get water from safe sources.
According to Dolor, the oil spill has affected nearly 20,000 families in Oriental Mindoro.Authorities are scrambling to recover MT Princess Empress that sank off Oriental Mindoro on February 28 and contain the spread of the oil to prevent further environmental damage and harm to humans.
