A former police officer who is now the security chief of an agribusiness compound in Sta. Catalina, Negros Oriental, owned by former Governor Pryde Henry Teves allegedly played a vital role in the assassination of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo, an official of the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Tuesday, March 28.
PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said Nigel Lagunay Electona, a former cop assigned at the Dumaguete City Police Office, was arrested during the service of a search warrant at the HDJ Bayawan Agri-ventures Corporation, Tolong compound, on March 24.
“Based on the report given to us by STG PRO7 (Special Task Group Police Regional Office 7), Mr. Nigel played a big role because it appears from reports and information from the suspects arrested earlier, Nigel was involved in the planning and in fact he helped our gunmen in the casing and surveillance of Governor Degamo’s house,” Fajardo told reporters in a press conference at Camp Crame.
Henry Pryde is the brother of suspended Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. (Neg. Or., 3rd District), who was earlier tagged as one of the alleged masterminds in the killing of Degamo.
Recovered during the March 24 raid in Pryde’s compound were various high-powered firearms, including a sniper rifle, ammunition and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) which were kept underground and cash amounting to almost P19 million.
The operating team unearthed the IEDs using a backhoe and other heavy equipment during the operation.
Fajardo said that on March 26, police raided Electona’s residence in Barangay Villareal in Bayawan City by virtue of a search warrant, which yielded alleged illegal firearms and ammunition, hand grenades, pictures of Degamo and his family, maps, house routes and a photo of the gate of Degamo’s residence.
Fajardo said Electona was arrested due to illegal drugs in 2016 and was dismissed from the police service in 2017.
He then started working with Pryde and later became the chief security officer of the HDJ Tolong compound.
Fajardo said Teves has a lot to explain following the seizure of a large cache of firearms and the arrest of his chief security officer.
Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. said the items that were seized during these operations were “believed to have been used during the planning stage of the murder” of Degamo.
“In light of these recent developments, the Special Task Force Degamo is very confident that we are nearing to the end of unmasking the masterminds behind the shocking and gruesome murder of Governor Degamo and others,” Abalos said.
“This time, this is the only message I have to the mastermind. I know that you know who you are. Give up now. We have seen all this evidence in the last few days. The killers themselves are in custody. We have gathered enough as time passed,” he added.
Abalos said investigators are still assessing if Pryde can also be considered as among the brains behind Degamo’s killing.
Degamo was assassinated in his residence in Pamplona town on March 4.
Eight other individuals were also killed in the incident which was perpetrated mostly by former Philippine Army soldiers who are all now under the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation. *PNA