Pryde Teves willing to present emails, phone logs; asks Arnie to come home

Former Negros Oriental governor Pryde Henry Teves said he was ready to waive his bank accounts and all means of communication to prove that he knew nothing about the killing of Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo.

“I am not hiding, I will not hide, I will not run,” Teves said in Fe Marie Dumaboc’s GMA Regional TV Balitang Bisdak report aired in “24 Oras” report on Tuesday.

“I am giving my waiver to all my communications — emails, phone logs, everything.  Even my banks, I will waive my bank secrecy law so that they can check what is my capability what my meager possessions are, what my bank accounts are, how much I have,” Teves said.

“When there are suspects, there are links to who ordered or what, and those links are vital to connecting, that is why I am subjecting my information, I will waive it so that they can open everything up,” he added.

Teves said he was not surprised that he was being linked to the killing of the governor since they were rivals in the last election.

“I expected that I will also be implicated because I was the opponent, eh 'di ba sinabing political ang nature so direct ako na, so sinabi na lang ng lawyers ko na expect that because you were the opponent,” he said.

(They said that nature is political so I'm direct, so my lawyers just said to me that I should expect that because you were the opponent.)

The former governor denied that the firearms and P18 million cash recovered from the van in their family's compound belonged to him.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday said that a map of the house and family photos of the slain governor was found in the possession of a suspect arrested during a raid at a compound Teves owned.

According to a report by Sam Nielsen on Super Radyo dzBB, the suspect identified as Nigel Electona was a former police patrolman dismissed from service in 2017 due to alleged involvement in illegal drugs.

Teves denied that Electona was his chief security personnel. He said Electona was the owner of the security agency that his family hired to guard the compound.

He added that Electona lived inside the compound.

The former governor said Electona must also answer questions regarding the map of the house and the Degamos' family photos.

“He will have to answer for that. Definitely, he is not in any way connected to Tolong. He is connected, we pay him to give us security, to secure the compound,” he said.

He then urged his brother, Negros Oriental 3rd District Representative Arnolfo Teves Jr. who is currently abroad.

“Sa kapatid ko (To my brother), if you are listening to me, all your brothers, even your parents believe that it is better to come home, it is not good to live life as a fugitive, it is better to come home. Kami ditong naiwan, kami ang naiipit eh (We were the ones who suffered),” he said. —Richa Noriega/NB, GMA Integrated News