Timor-Leste stakes Asean bid over fugitive ex-lawmaker

Dismissed lawmaker Arnolfo Teves Jr. Inquirer file photo

MANILA, Philippines — Former Timor-Leste Foreign Minister Dionisio Babo Soares said the Philippines should not use the case of fugitive expelled Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. as grounds to block Timor-Leste’s application to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

Babo Soares, a leader of the Timorese resistance against Indonesia in the 1990s, said doing so contradicts Asean’s principles of mutual respect, noninterference, and consensus-based decision-making, potentially undermining regional unity.

In a March 28 opinion piece published by Tatoli, Timor-Leste’s state-run news agency, Soares emphasized that judicial independence is fundamental to democracy.

READ: Refusal to extradite Teves can affect Timor-Leste’s bid to join Asean

Babo Soares, also a former justice minister, said the Philippines’ apparent frustration over the Timor-Leste Court of Appeals’ decision to reject Teves’ extradition raises concerns about Manila’s interpretation of judicial independence.

“Timor-Leste’s judicial system is not obliged to act according to another nation’s expectations, especially when such actions could compromise its integrity,” he added.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla warned on March 25 that Timor-Leste’s bid to join Asean could face complications after its judiciary denied the Philippine government’s request to extradite Teves.

The former lawmaker fled to Timor-Leste while he was facing a judicial process in the Philippines for the assassination of his political rival, former Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo, along with nine others in March 2023.

A designated terrorist, Teves attempted to evade prosecution but was eventually arrested in March 2024 while playing golf in Dili, following an Interpol notice.

“It is not going to be pleasant for Timor-Leste because they’re applying to be in Asean, and we [are] one of the founding fathers of Asean,” Remulla told reporters last week after the Timor-Leste Court of Appeals “unanimously” granted Teves’ appeal and “refused the request for [his] extradition” in a March 20 decision.

“This is just a very simple matter of an undocumented Filipino who’s accused of a crime [and must] be returned to the country. For them (Timor-Leste) to complicate it is a big stretch,” Remulla said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs, for its part, expressed disappointment over Dili’s lack of trust in the Philippine judiciary, emphasizing that it was a founding Asean member and an early supporter of Timor-Leste’s bid to join the bloc.