(UPDATE) OFFICIALS of the Philippines and Timor-Leste are working out the details for bringing home expelled congressman Arnolfo Teves, who was arrested in the Timorese capital of Dili on Thursday.

The Timorese police have taken custody of Teves, who was arrested while playing golf at a driving range in Dili.

"The meeting between Philippine and Timor-Leste government officials is still ongoing," said Department of Justice (DoJ) spokesman Assistant Secretary Jose Dominic Clavano on Friday.

"What they are discussing is how Teves will be returned to the Philippines." Clavano said several options are being considered, including extradition and deportation.

"We will have to see what is the most feasible, fastest and safest way," he said.

Clavano said deportation is the most expeditious process, since Teves is already considered an undesirable alien following the cancellation of his passport.

He is also an undocumented alien, which means he has violated Timor-Leste's immigration laws.

Extradition appears highly unlikely since the Philippines and Timor-Leste have no extradition treaty.

"However, there may be a way to still request for extradition because of the (United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime)," Clavano said.

In the absence of a treaty, an extradition request can be sought, but it will take a bit of documentation, he said.

Clavano said the DoJ's priority right now is the safety and security of Teves.

"We know that this is a huge case for us, and we just want to make sure that he is here to stand trial safe and sound, so whatever the concerns of the Teves camp are, they are gone because that is the government's top priority," he said.

Teves is being accused of masterminding the assassination of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo on March 4, 2023. Five other people were killed when gunmen burst into the Degamo compound.

Teves also faces multiple murder charges in Negros Oriental in connection with a series of murders in the province in 2019.

He was labeled a terrorist in August 2023 by the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC).

Clavano said the DoJ has yet to receive the official Timorese report on Teves' arrest.

He said it was not the Philippine delegation that made the arrest, but the Timor-Leste police and the National Central Bureau (NCB).

National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Medardo de Lemos will head a team that will escort Teves back to the Philippines.

The trip is being arranged by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) and the Philippine Embassy in Dili.

Clavano said how fast Teves will be flown back to Manila will depend on the Timorese government.

On Thursday night, the widow of Degamo, Pamplona Mayor Janice Degamo, welcomed the arrest of Teves.

"Words cannot express how it feels to finally see the man who terrorized our province and brutally murdered my husband surrounded by police," Degamo said on a Facebook post.

Former senator Antonio Trillanes 4th, in a post on his X handle on Friday, explained how Teves' arrest could also impact on the efforts to arrest former president Rodrigo Duterte.

"The arrest of Teves with the help of the Interpol and the East Timorese police force is an example of how Duterte will be arrested once his International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant of arrest is released and if this goes through Interpol's process," Trillanes wrote in Filipino.

"This is the obligation of Interpol member states like the Philippines," he said. "Just like what they did to Teves, when Interpol gave the 'red notice' or an international warrant of arrest to the East Timorese police, they did not question the validity of the red notice and arrested Teves right away."

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