MANILA: Timor-Leste ordered the return of expelled lawmaker Arnolfo Teves Jr to the Philippines in an “administrative decision” that tagged him as an undocumented alien facing multiple criminal complaints and thus posing “threats” to the island state’s national security and interests.
“The Government of Timor-Leste believes that the presence of Filipino citizen Arnolfo Teves Jr in its territory, who is suspected of having committed several serious crimes and has been formally charged by the judicial authorities of the Republic of the Philippines — a member country of Asean, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations—represents a serious and unacceptable situation,” the Timorese government said in a statement on Wednesday (May 28).
