Court grants Teves bail, but he stays in Taguig jail
Former Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. will have to remain in jail, although the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) allowed him and two of his coaccused to post bail over the “weak” case involving the 2019 murder of his alleged former hit man.
In a resolution on April 15 by Manila RTC Branch 30, Presiding Judge Ryan Philip Bartolome granted the petition for bail filed separately by Teves and his coaccused Richard Cuadra and Rolando Pinili due to the failure of the prosecution to prove a “strong” evidence of guilt against them.
But Teves will continue to remain in detention at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology compound in Camp Bagong Diwa as he has other pending murder charges, including the assassination of his rival, former Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo.
The court set the bail for Teves at P500,000, while it set the same for Cuadra and Pinili at P250,000 each, in consideration of the social status of the accused.
In this specific case, Teves was alleged to be the mastermind in the killing of Pacito Libron, his alleged hit man; while Cuadra was accused to be the gunman and Pinili was purportedly among the co-conspirators.
Under the Revised Penal Code, a murder charge is nonbailable if the evidence of guilt is strong. But the prosecution has to prove that there is “evident guilt or a great presumption of guilt,” which the prosecutors in the case failed to do, the court noted.
“After a careful evaluation of the testimonies of all the witnesses for both sides and a judicious scrutiny of the [transcript], as well as their respective evidence presented, the court finds that the prosecution failed to show, establish and prove that the evidence of guilt is strong as to each accused in this case for the crime charged against them which is murder,” read part of the 17-page resolution.
The Manila court also described the testimony of witness Gemuel Hobro, who claimed to have worked for Teves, as “riddled with inconsistencies” because he changed his answers on several instances.
Missing details
“Moreover, he testified on several matters which were not contained in his extrajudicial confession and supplemental affidavit which shows that these documents had a lot of missing details which are essential to the case,” it added. “Thus, his testimony regarding the incident was a stark contrast to what was written in his sworn statement.”
To salvage such testimonies, the ruling read, Hobro told the court that he decided not to disclose other details in his written affidavit because he wanted to divulge them in open court.
“Given the incomplete narration contained in his extrajudicial confession vis-à-vis his conflicting testimony before this court, as well as his propensity to change his answers when confronted, the court entertains doubts as to his credibility,” the court said.
The next hearing will be the initial presentation of the prosecution’s evidence, which was set on June 23.
Aside from the killing of Degamo, Teves is also facing murder charges for the assassination of the former’s supporters in March 2023 and Lester Pialgao Bato in May 2019.
