(UPDATE) A MANILA court has granted the petition for bail of former Negros Oriental representative Arnolfo Teves Jr. in one of the murder cases he is facing for the 2019 killing of Lester Bato.
In an order dated Aug. 20, 2025 — but made public on Friday, Sept. 12 — Presiding Judge Remato Enciso of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 12 ruled that the prosecution failed to present strong evidence justifying Teves’ continued detention without bail for the capital offense.
According to the judge, the court found the evidence presented by the prosecution during the bail hearings was insufficient to establish that Teves’ guilt for the crime of murder is strong.
Specifically, the judge noted that the qualifying circumstances of treachery, evident premeditation, and reward — which elevate the crime to murder — were not convincingly proven based on the testimonies and documents presented.
The case stemmed from an incident on May 26, 2019, in Sitio Labugon, Basay, Negros Oriental, where victim Lester Bato, a former bodyguard of a local mayor, was shot in the head. The prosecution alleged that Teves conspired with several others, including his secretary Hannah Mae Sumerano and alleged shooters Rolando Pinili and Richard Cuadra, to carry out the killing for a reward of P150,000.
The ruling hinged on the testimony of the state’s key witness, Gemuel Hobro, a former employee of Teves who confessed to being the driver during the shooting.
However, the court pointed to inconsistencies in Hobro’s various statements and his courtroom testimony, including a significant change in his account where he claimed for the first time during the Aug. 11 hearing to have actually witnessed the shooting, a detail absent from his earlier sworn affidavits and testimonies.
Also, the court noted that the other witnesses presented — PCpl. Emerson Avendaño, PSSg. Jeck Ryan Olarte, and lawyer Ferdinand Benitez — had no direct knowledge of the crime itself and could only testify about the circumstances surrounding Hobro’s extrajudicial confession.
Judge Enciso ordered Teves to post a bail bond in the amount of P120,000 for his provisional liberty.
The decision is a setback for the prosecution, which had argued that Teves should be denied bail because the crime is punishable by reclusion perpetua to death and the evidence of guilt was strong.
Teves is still facing other serious charges in separate cases including allegations that he masterminded the March 2023 killing of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo.
