'Umakyat pa ako ng bundok ': Robin Padilla recalls fugitive past, urges Teves to face raps

Sen. Robin Padilla has a piece of advice for Negros Oriental 3rd District Rep. Arnolfo Teves, Jr: think about your situation and face the music.

Padilla gave the advice as Teves’s whereabouts remain unknown more than a week after the gruesome murder of Govenor Roel Degamo.
 

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Padilla, dubbed the "Bad Boy of Philippine Cinema", was earlier convicted for illegal possession of firearms in 1994 and sentenced to a maximum of eight years in jail before being granted a presidential pardon. 

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The senator said he once tried to evade the law after a warrant for his arrest was issued. 
 
"Alam niyo ako nangyari din sa akin yan sa experience ko nang lumabas ang aking warrant of arrest. Nagtago din ako isa’t-kalahating buwan. Umakyat pa ako ng bundok bago ko na-realize kailangan kong harapin kung anuman ang kaso," he told journalists in a virtual interview Friday. 
 
"Dito naman sa sitwasyon ni Congressman Teves, ang ma-advice ko sa kanya, mas maganda po yan Cong na harapin mo na kung ikaw po pagkatapos nyo pagnilay-nilayan. Alam ko nagi-isip pa kayo, nagde-desisyon kayo. Panalangin namin, pakiusap namin, dumating ang panahon na makauwi din po kayo at ipagtanggol nyo ang sarili nyo," he added.

Teves, who is being linked to the Degamo killing, has written Speaker Martin Romualdez to ask for a two-month leave of absence from the House of Representatives beginning March 9, citing a security threat to his life.
 

Padilla said Teves can avail of the protection of the law as enshrined in the 1987 Constitution. Part of that, he stressed, is the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.
 
“Sa ngayon inosente pa siya (Teves), di pa dumaan sa hearing o paglilitis. Kaya sa ngayon ibigay natin sa kaya na siya ay inosente pa. At dapat Cong, kaibigan din naman natin ito, kasama natin itong mambabatas, harapin mo itong pagsubok na ito. Di maganda na sa isang katulad mo Cong na napakatapang na tao… kailangan po siguro ipakita dito sa paglilitis na ito,” he said.