Government operatives have seized personal items belonging to suspects in the March 4 murder of Governor Roel Degamo and eight others, at a sugar mill compound in Sta. Catalina, Negros Oriental, Thursday evening, according to the Joint Task Force Negros (JTFN).
The items were found with the use of a backhoe, on the premises of the HDJ-Bayawan Agri-Venture Corp. Tolong, in Barangay Caranoche, Sta. Catalina, reportedly owned by former Negros Oriental governor Pryde Henry Teves.
The recovered items included burned clothes, identification cards, automated teller machine cards, and assorted documents that reportedly belonged to some of the identified suspects.
Also found were one silencer, one soldering iron, rifle cleaning paraphernalia, empty .45 caliber slugs, a Swiss knife, and a tacker used for target papers.
The latest discovery was part of the continuous operations led by the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), with the help of the JTFN, composed of soldiers and the police.
The series of raids started on March 24, after a Mandaue court judge issued a search warrant. As the raids progressed, operatives seized several high-powered firearms, explosives, and thousands of rounds of ammunition within the premises of the sugar mill.
The former governor said while he is the president of the company, he only owns 10 percent, and it has five other incorporators.
Meanwhile, Teves voluntarily surrendered some firearms and ammunition to the police on Thursday, a day after he filed a waiver at the Hall of Justice in Dumaguete City, allowing authorities to search his phone and bank accounts.
The former governor is the younger brother of suspended Third District Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr., who has been tagged by the Department of Justice as one of the masterminds in the killing of Degamo and eight others.*PNA
