Refusal to extradite Teves can affect Timor-Leste’s bid to join Asean
- Following Timor-Leste’s refusal to grant Manila’s request to extradite lawmaker Arnolfo Teves Jr., Justice Secretary Boying Remulla said the country’s non-cooperation could affect its bid to join ASEAN.
- The Philippines, along with Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, founded the Asean on Aug. 8, 1967, while Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia joined later. Timor-Leste has been a candidate member with observer status since 2022.
- In a decision released on March 20, the plenary of judges of Timor-Leste’s Court of Appeals granted Teves’ appeal and refused the request for his extradition, citing a “well-founded risk of being subjected to torture, inhuman, degrading or cruel treatment.”
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said on Tuesday that Timor-Leste’s bid to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) could face complications after its judiciary refused to grant the Philippine government’s request to extradite expelled lawmaker Arnolfo “Arnie” Teves Jr., who is wanted in Manila for multiple cases of murder and frustrated murder.
“It is not going to be pleasant for Timor-Leste because they’re applying to be in the Asean, and we [are] one of the founding fathers of the Asean,” Remulla said in an ambush interview.
The Philippines, along with Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, founded the Asean on Aug. 8, 1967, while Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia joined later. Timor-Leste has been a candidate member with observer status since 2022.
In a decision released on March 20, the plenary of judges of Timor-Leste’s Court of Appeals “unanimously” granted Teves’ appeal and “refuse[d] the request for [his] extradition.”
The court cited Article 35(3) of its constitution, which prohibits extradition if there is a “well-founded risk of being subjected to torture, inhuman, degrading or cruel treatment.”
‘Big stretch’
The DOJ, which vowed to exhaust all legal remedies to extradite Teves, described the court’s reversal as “peculiar,” noting that it previously ruled in favor of his extradition in June 2024 and again in December 2024.
“This is just a very simple matter of an undocumented Filipino who’s accused of a crime to be returned to the country. For them (Timor-Leste) to complicate it is a big stretch,” Remulla said.
With the passport of Teves already canceled, Timor-Leste simply needed to deport him, he noted.
“That’s all they have to do. For them to go into certain matters that are intrinsically local to us, it’s a big stretch,” he added.
Remulla said they would challenge the court decision through a motion for reconsideration although other branches of government were also moving, noting that previous “commitments were made.”
In March 2024, representatives from the National Bureau of Investigation met with Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta following Teves’ arrest while playing golf in Dili.
During the courtesy call, Ramos-Horta “communicated his earnest desire for the immediate resolution of the case and emphasized the importance of expeditiously removing Teves from Timor-Leste,” the NBI said in a statement.
Teves is accused of masterminding the assassination of his political rival, former Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo, along with nine others in Pamplona town on March 4, 2023.
He also faces additional charges for the killings of three individuals between March and June 2019, as well as violations of gun and explosives-related laws after high-powered weapons and ammunition were found in his family’s compound.
Terrorist group
The Anti-Terrorism Council designated Teves and his affiliated armed group as a terrorist organization in June 2023, identifying both the group and its members as terrorist entities.
He was expelled from the House of Representatives in August 2023 for disorderly conduct over his refusal to come home despite the expiration of his travel authority.
