EDITORIAL - A huge miscalculation

It was a move that some said they saw coming, but most of us didn’t. Embattled Negros Oriental Representative Arnolfo Teves, alleged to be behind the killing of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo, applied for political asylum with Timor-Leste, a Southeast Asian nation occupying half the island of Timor.

The request was refused.

We can’t blame Teves for doing what he did because the truth is he is fast running out of options as well as places to go where the authorities cannot legally arrest him and turn him over to the Philippines.

However, this latest move, aside from being an insult to his person, is also a huge miscalculation on his part because it tells us and the world that he no longer has any confidence or any trust in the Philippine government.

While it is true that anyone can apply for protection from any country for security reasons, in seeking political asylum specifically Teves implies that he is being persecuted politically, and along with that come the suggestions that the government itself has been treating him unfairly, can no longer be reasoned with, or even trusted to keep him safe.

In other words it is a grave insult to a government that he is supposed to be part of.

Of course it also shows that he no longer believes in the justice system of our country. And while it is true that until now Teves has not been formally charged for the murder of Degamo, it shows he no longer has confidence that his own courts will treat him fairly.

Teves better think about his next moves carefully. Following this bold move, there are now plans by the Department of Justice to ask the Department of Foreign Affairs to cancel his passport.

While his lawyers argue that this cannot be done because Teves isn’t a fugitive from justice, hasn’t been convicted of a crime, or hold a fake passport, Teves must not discount the possibility that this might happen.

If it does, Teves’ options will be even more limited.