Detained former Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves was hospitalized on Tuesday, June 17, and needs major surgery, his lawyer Ferdinand Topacio said.
Topacio, in a statement released to the media, said after being examined at a government hospital Tuesday morning until mid-afternoon, the doctors decided that Teves’ condition requires major surgery in another hospital with additional equipment and facilities.
Teves had been recommended by government doctors to be transferred to St. Luke’s Medical Center, Bonifacio Global City, following accepted proper Bureau of Jail Management and Penology official protocols involving such serious emergency cases, he said.
All trial courts before which Teves has pending cases have been informed of the situation by way of the most expeditious means possible, he added.
Teves returned to the Philippines on May 29 after being deported from Timor-Leste and has been detained at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.
The former lawmaker is facing a string of murder and frustrated cases in various courts, including the 10 counts of murder charges filed at Manila RTC Branch 51 over the killing of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo and nine others in 2023.
Degamo’s widow, Representative-elect Janice Degamo (Neg. Or., 3rd District), in a Facebook post on Tuesday asked “Is this the same level of treatment a regular inmate would receive in our jail system? Hospitalized for ‘stomach pains’, what can we expect next showing up to court in a wheelchair?”
“We are tired of the delaying tactics, the judicial games and the drama”, she said.
She said “for more than years Arnie Teves has used these same tired tactics to delay justice, enough is enough, NegOrenses demand accountability and justice”.*