Suspended Negros Oriental 3rd District Rep. Arnolfo ‘Arnie’ Teves and his two sons have filed a consolidated motion seeking to dismiss the illegal possession of firearms and explosives charges filed against them.
In the motion filed on Friday, May 5, Teves and his sons Kurt Matthew and Axel cited “lack of evidence to support the finding of probable cause” as grounds to junk the complaints.
“In Sum, the complaints 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,” the motion reads.
“The Complainants, thus, failed in meeting the following parameters of proof in a preliminary investigation, as consistently required by no less than the Supreme Court,” it added.
Meanwhile, interviewed by the media before filing the motion before the Department of Justice (DOJ), Teves’ legal counsel Edward Santiago said they are “confident” that the complaints against his client will be dismissed.
“Kasi we have a lot of witnesses, they executed affidavits, testifying na nagkaroon ng highly irregularities. Nag-conduct ng raid, wala namang kasamang mga witnesses, so it took them [authorities] about one hour going around the house of Cong. Teves, unaccompanied by anyone, and after that one, they conducted a search with the alleged witnesses,” he added.
Ferdinand Topacio, on the other hand, said they are questioning the legality of the search conducted by authorities.
“Wala sa ating procedure na may papasok muna sa isang lugar na ise-search na walang witness [tapos] after one hour saka ise-search. Iyon ang pagkakataon [nila] na magtanim ng ebidensya,” he said.
The complaint against Teves and his sons was in connection to the simultaneous raid conducted on their residences in Bayawan City, Negros Oriental where several guns and bullets were seized.
