Henry Teves says he has submitted waiver of confidentiality to DOJ

Former Negros Oriental governor Pryde Henry Teves on Thursday said he already submitted a waiver of confidentiality to the Department of Justice (DOJ) so investigators can check his bank accounts and communications.

“I already signed my waiver of confidentiality. I submitted it to the local DOJ provincial office yesterday personally. Then I sent through LBC another straight to the office of Secretary Remulla,” he told GMA News’ Unang Balita.

Teves said even the board of his firm, HDJ Agriventures, made a resolution opening up the corporation’s bank accounts and communications to authorities.

Teves' brother, suspended Negros Oriental Representative Arnolfo Teves Jr., is being linked to the March 4 assassination of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo after arrested suspects named a certain "Cong Teves" as the one who allegedly ordered the killing.

Following a raid on HDJ Agriventures' compound last week, authorities said they found a map of Degamo's house and photos of his family from one of the arrested suspects.

The suspect, identified as Nigel Electona, was a former police patrolman who was dismissed from service in 2017 due to alleged involvement in illegal drugs.

Henry Teves said Electona is “the licensee of the security agency that I gave a contract to supply security services to the mill.”

According to Henry, he was surprised that an improvised explosive device (IED) was found in the compound, saying he is “allergic” since he is a bomb attack survivor.

“Biktima ako ng IED if you remember. I am a bombing survivor, the scars on my whole body reveal it. Seven people perished. I almost lost my life. I spent 35 days in coma. Seven months before I could walk again, and two and a half years before I was completely rehab with 22 operations no less kaya allergic ako dyan sa IED,” he said.

“Ako [me] as president, had I known there was something like I would be the first one to have it either diffused or thrown away kasi delikado yan [because that is dangerous],” he added.

For Teves, the security agency should explain the firearms and ammunition found in the compound.

Regarding the accusation against his older brother, Teves said as a brother, he will always believe that Rep. Teves was not behind the killing of Degamo.

“Of course, as a brother, I will always like to believe na hindi, siyempre kapatid ako, kuya ko yan e. Hindi ko siya pinapapauwi dahil sa sinasabi ko na naiipit ako, pinapauwi ko siya aksi yung buong pamilya namin,” he said.

(Of course, as a brother, I will always like to believe that he was not behind this.)

The former governor believes that the mastermind will be caught if authorities would just follow the money, communication, and logistics trails.

“If thorough investigation would be done, getting all these connections between who and what and logistics and of course money, because operations like these need money. If that can be all traced, then definitely, the money trails, communication trails, and logistics trails will lead to who is behind this,” he said.

Rep. Teves, who is currently out of the country, has earlier denied involvement in the Degamo killing, saying he and his brother will not benefit from it. —KBK, GMA Integrated News