Santiago’s cartoon video spreads in NBI

MANILA, Philippines — Resigned National Bureau of Investigation Director Jaime Santiago has confirmed the circulation of a cartoon video depicting him scolding senior NBI officials.

Animated with an audio recording of a closed-door meeting, the video sent by Santiago to The STAR showed a man with a handgun in his pocket berating a group of men.

“It’s better they spread it so people see the foolishness they have been doing,” he said.

Santiago tendered his resignation to President Marcos on Aug. 15, saying he wanted to protect the NBI’s reputation after being linked to an alleged “collector” extorting money from illegal gambling operators.

In the audio recording, Santiago can be heard saying, “I don’t want our problems ending up in the media. These complaints reaching television networks clearly mean someone inside is orchestrating it.”

He also accused officials of repeated misconduct.

“They even claim that Lotoc is my protégé, when he’s one of those I was reprimanding,” Santiago told The STAR, referring to Jeremy Lotoc, former NBI cybercrime division chief.

Santiago affirmed that the culprits behind the video being shared internally are the officials he had scolded at the meeting.

Smear campaigns against former NBI director Medardo de Lemos are “the same old style” being used to discredit him, Santiago said.

Santiago succeeded De Lemos in 2024.

Misquoted

Meanwhile, a vlogger who allegedly misquoted Santiago will be probed by the NBI.

Describing the directive as his “last hurrah” before leaving office, Santiago on Monday ordered the cybercrime division to investigate vlogger Banat By.

A Facebook post from Banat news quoted Santiago as saying, “It’s difficult to defend this administration. You will be implicated due to their negligence.”

“There are those using my resignation and putting political color in it… He is putting words into my mouth. I never said that,” Santiago said.

“Once we get this Banat By, throw all the books at him. This is too much, and this is one of the reasons I am stepping down,” he added.

By denied the accusation, saying he was in Europe and had not issued any commentary on Santiago’s resignation.

“We will still continue with the probe. Even fellow vloggers fall victim to fake news spreaders. Social media has gone too far,” Santiago said.