Former Negros Oriental governor pryde henry teves ordered the burying of firearms, ammunition and explosives in his property, a man claimed to have taken part in the concealment of the weapons told police investigators.

Col. Thomas Valmonte, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) legal officer, said the witness, whose name was not revealed, said Teves expected that his properties would be searched following the murder of Gov. Roel Degamo last March 4, so he ordered the guns and explosives buried.

Teves’ brother, Rep. Arnolfo Teves, has been implicated in the killing of Degamo, a political rival.

Last Sunday, the CIDG dug up six improvised explosive devices (IEDs), a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG), and firearms of various caliber that were buried in a 5-hectare property owned by Pryde Henry in Barangay Caranoche, Sta. Catalina town.

A sugar mill on the property is owned by HDJ Bayawan AgriVenture Corp. of which Pryde Henry is the president.

“All of the evidence or items that were found and seized are within the area that is controlled by Henry Teves as president of HDJ … Siya po ang gagawin (He will be named as a respondent),” Valmonte said.

Teves denied knowledge of the buried cache, saying there are at least 200 houses in the compound where sugar mill employees and their relatives live.

Another CIDG raid on the compound Sunday night yielded more firearms and ammunition.

Found buried near the mill’s molasses tank were two pistols, a shotgun and more than 2,000 rounds of assorted ammunition.

The CIDG also discovered P18 million in cash.

Arrested during that raid were Nigel Electona, said to be the personal bodyguard of Teves, security guard Jason Baillo Timtiman and firetruck driver Dionelo Estoconing Mayagma Jr.

The CIDG also reported that photos of Degamo’s house, an area map of Pamplona town, a route to the house, and a photo of the house gate were recovered along with more firearms and ammunition from Electona’s house.

The CIDG launched two separate operations implementing search warrants against Electona and another suspect, Marvin Halaman, which also yielded several firearms and ammunition.

In a house in Barangay Suba, Bayawan City, where Halaman allegedly lives, police seized an improvised rifle, a .9mm Ingram automatic pistol, a fragmentation grenade, live ammunition and photos of Degamo. Halaman remains at large. Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said Monday the items seized over the weekend corroborated the testimonies of the suspects in the Degamo killing.

“The IEDs that were found are consistent with the statement made by one of those who came later… that when he came in, he saw somebody preparing IEDs,” Remulla said.

He said the suspects did not mention any names when they talked about the IEDs, but he believes the safehouse the suspects stayed in was owned by the Teves family.

On Monday, the camp of Representative Teves asked for the lifting of the 60-day suspension imposed by the House of Representatives.

The House last week adopted the Committee on Ethics and Privileges’ recommendation to suspend Teves “for disorderly behavior.”

“It should be considered that, while Rep. Teves has not returned to the country due to his belief that his life will be in peril if he does so, he did not disregard, but instead continued to submit to, the authority of Congress, first, by invoking its power to allow him an extension and a leave of absence,” Teves’ camp said in a letter dated March 24 to the ethics committee.

The House granted Teves a 10-day travel pass that lapsed on March 9.

Teves had wanted the pass extended to April 7.

“The threat that Rep. Teves conceives may ... be said as falling under ‘unavoidable circumstances’ which prevents his physical presence in the sessions of the House, hence, an exempting circumstance under the House rules,” his camp said.