MANILA — The Court of Appeals has dismissed a petition filed by dismissed Negros Oriental congressman Arnie Teves Jr. challenging the validity of a search warrant implemented at his residence on March 10, 2023, which led to the seizure of several undocumented high-powered firearms and ammunition.

In a 32-page decision dated April 8, the appellate court ruled that there was no grave abuse of discretion on the part of Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 12 Judge Renato Enciso in issuing the warrant.

Authorities conducted the search at the Teves residence in Barangay Malabugas, Bayawan City, where multiple firearms were recovered. The operation resulted in the filing of complaints for violations of Republic Act No. 10591 and Republic Act No. 9516.

The CA said “the incidental discovery of other firearms, ammunition and explosives in the cabinets of the petitioner, which were all located within his residence, cannot be considered as a product of an unreasonable search.”

“The search warrants, by their own terms, authorized a search of the petitioner’s residential house in its entirety; these did not purport to limit the searching officers’ reach to isolated sub-sectors or specific rooms. The warrants are conspicuously silent regarding the purported bedrooms of the petitioner, Kurt Matthew or Axel (Axl). Had the issuing judge intended to restrict the search to these specific quarters, as he possessed the clear authority to so limit the warrants’ reach, he could have done so clearly and unequivocally,” the tribunal added.

Records showed that prior to the revocation of their gun licenses, Teves was authorized to own 18 firearms, while his son, former provincial board member Kurt Matthew Teves, had licenses for 23 firearms. Another son, Axl, had no license to possess firearms.