Former Negros Oriental Governor Pryde Henry Teves. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/File

MANILA -- Pryde Henry Teves filed Friday his candidacy for governor of Negros Oriental governor, a post he had lost to Roel Degamo who was killed in a March 2023 attack. 

Teves' brother, former lawmaker Arnolfo Teves, was tagged as the alleged mastermind of Degamo's slay -- which the siblings denied. 

Henry recently joined the Liberal Party together with Dumaguete City Mayor Ipe Remollo.

Expelled congressman Teves arrested in Timor-Leste
Teves released, re-arrested in Timor Leste

“Where is the real problem of the people of Negros? It is here. I will run where I am needed the most,” Teves said in an interview in Bisaya.

He was unseated as governor of Negros Oriental after the election commission declared in September 2022 that Degamo was the rightful winner of the election earlier that year following a vote count.

The month before Degamo was killed, the Supreme Court upheld the decision.

Then Rep. Teves was expelled from the House of Representatives in August 2023 after he refused to return to the Philippines to face the murder allegations. The government also declared him and his brother Henry "terrorist individuals".

When asked about the cases and issues hounding him and his family, Henry said, “It is what it is. I will never runaway from a challenge".

“At least I offered my services and my people experienced it in three months. I can do it,” he added.

Teves has yet to announce a slate, but said he was willing to work with the incumbent Vice Governor Jake Reyes. 

Some of his plans include improved healthcare and better roads, among others.

‘I will not hide,’ Pryde Teves says after arrest and release

Arnolfo Teves has yet to be repatriated from Timor-Leste, where he was arrested earlier this year. 

— With a report from Agence France-Presse