PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION. Witnesses in the March 4 Pamplona, Negros Oriental massacre board a Philippine Air Force aircraft at the Dumaguete-Sibulan airport on Monday (June 12, 2023). Some 63 complainants and witnesses in the assassination of Gov. Roel Degamo are attending the preliminary investigation on Tuesday (June 13, 2023) following a notice of hearing from the Department of Justice. (Contributed photo)
DUMAGUETE CITY – Some 60 complainants and witnesses left for Manila on Monday, the day before the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) preliminary investigation on the assassination of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo.
The slain governor’s widow, Pamplona Mayor Janice Degamo, was among the complainants who left the province.
They were ferried in two batches on board a Philippine Air Force aircraft that departed the Dumaguete-Sibulan airport in the morning and in the afternoon.
The DOJ notice of hearing said that the complainants in the case for multiple murders, multiple frustrated murders, and multiple attempted murders under Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code were to appear before the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) with their witnesses on June 13 and June 20.
Named respondents in the complaint were fugitive Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. (3rd district, Negros Oriental), Angelou Palagtiw, alias “Sister of Angelo Palagtiw”, a certain “Gee Ann” or “Jie Ann”, Niel Andrew Go, Capt. Lloyd Cruz Garcia II, and Nigel Electona, as shown in the DOJ notice.
The Pamplona mayor, 17 others, and the NBI-National Capital Region were named complainants in the same notice, a copy of which was provided to the local media.
The complaint stemmed from the March 4 attack at the Degamo residential compound in Pamplona town where the governor was shot dead while distributing government aid to beneficiaries.
Nine others were killed and 16 were wounded in the mass shooting perpetrated by heavily armed men who were later arrested separately with complaints, also filed against them by the DOJ.
Teves, who was ordered suspended twice by the House of Representatives, is being tagged as the mastermind in the Degamo assassination. He and his legal counsels have repeatedly denied the allegations.
The solon’s whereabouts remain unknown as he has not returned to the country since he departed in late February, citing threats to his life, but he had been sending statements through his counsels. (PNA)
