NBI chief disputes Cayetano's Senate 'attack' claim as inconsistent
MANILA, Philippines — National Bureau of Investigation Director Melvin Matibag disputed Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano's account of the May 13 gunfire at the Senate, saying Senate security personnel acted on assumptions rather than a verified attack.
Matibag said the Senate side appeared to react as if the chamber was about to be stormed without first coordinating with GSIS security personnel responsible for the adjacent area.
"They moved in based on assumptions that they would be attacked," Matibag said in Filipino in a "Facts First" interview Friday evening, May 15. ()
The remarks directly contradicted Cayetano's insistence a day earlier that the Senate "was under attack" after gunfire erupted near the boundary separating the Senate's rented offices and the GSIS side of the complex.
Matibag said the lapse was simple: Senate security could have verified the situation before moving in.
He said Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Roberto Mao Aplasca could have called either the NBI or GSIS security as early as the previous week if Senate security believed armed men in the adjacent area posed a threat.
"They could have called as early as last week and said: "Boss, there are people here, we might exchange fire, we are ready,'" Matibag said.
Matibag said the NBI had no reason to notify Senate security because, he insisted, there was no operation planned inside the Senate.
"It's consistent because we really had no operation. Why would I call you?" he said.
He said the NBI had instead coordinated with GSIS and its security officer because the incident involved the GSIS side of the compound.
Matibag added that if Senate security did not want to call him, it could have contacted the GSIS security officer directly to verify what was happening.
"There are people there. What is that? Are they going to storm us? What are they drilling there? But no. He assumed they would be attacked," he said.
Conflicting accounts
At a Thursday, May 14 press briefing, Cayetano said Aplasca fired a warning shot after spotting an NBI agent carrying an AR-15 rifle.
Cayetano said at least 27 rounds were later fired from the Senate security side, while the alleged NBI agent discharged five rounds.
"If I point a gun at you, enter your house carrying a gun, and you fire a warning shot and I fire back, is it not an attack?" Cayetano said. "Sorry, but I don't think there's any question: The Senate is under attack, was under attack!"
Matibag, however, maintained that the NBI had no operation inside the Senate itself and coordinated only with GSIS after the agency requested assistance.
"None. The total number that entered GSIS was 18. No one else," Matibag said.
He also questioned why Senate security personnel moved with firearms while journalists and civilians remained nearby.
"You were conducting an assault, so why was the media following you?" he said. "Shouldn't you have cleared them first?"
Even if there was no staged plan to create a diversion for Dela Rosa to flee, the sequence exposed errors that should be accounted for.
Focus shifts to Bato exit
For Matibag, the heaviest loss in the aftermath of the gunfire incident was that it led to the evasion of Sen. Bato dela Rosa, who had been under Senate protective custody while facing an International Criminal Court arrest warrant.
Authorities were examining whether the shooting incident may have helped Dela Rosa slip out of the complex.
Aplasca has since been suspended after admitting he fired the first warning shot. Cayetano criticized the move as one-sided, arguing that Matibag should also be suspended.
But Matibag said questions over responsibility should first be directed at Cayetano because the Senate itself committed to keeping Dela Rosa under protective custody.
"The first person who should be asked, when it comes to responsibility, is the Senate president, because they committed that Senator Bato dela Rosa was under their protective custody," Matibag said.
Matibag also rejected Cayetano's criticism that NBI agents failed to present a valid warrant during the earlier attempt to arrest Dela Rosa, saying the warrant would have been shown directly to the subject himself.
- Latest
- Trending
