SHOTS fired Crime scene tape cordons off the spots where Senate security personnel and National Bureau of Investigation operatives exchanged gunfire in what critics later described as an ‘acoustic shootout.’ The noise echoed louder after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and NBI chief Melvin Matibag insisted there had been no NBI arrest operation at all.
Photograph by Aram Lascano for DAILY TRIBUNE
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Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Mao Aplasca confirmed Friday that the Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms (OSAA) fired a warning shot during Wednesday’s incident at the Senate involving National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) personnel.
“That’s right, I was the one who fired the warning shot,” Aplasca said in a DZRH interview.
He said the action followed rules of engagement and was not immediate, noting that OSAA personnel first attempted to identify the approaching group.
“We did not shoot immediately, especially since they identified themselves as the NBI. We know they’re government forces, but if our personnel’s lives are put in danger, we’ll fire the warning shot to tell them that they (NBI) should also stand down.”
Aplasca said NBI agents were carrying long firearms and did not comply when ordered to lower them, which prompted OSAA to fire the warning shot.
“That was our first challenge. [We asked] who are you?” and they answered that they’re the NBI," he said.
He said OSAA again instructed the agents to lower their weapons, but they instead raised them.
Aplasca said he could not confirm if the agents had their fingers on the trigger due to low visibility, but noted they complied after the warning shot.
“What we expected was that they shouldn’t be firing (guns) because they definitely know that we’re guards inside the Senate. So, the normal tendency is that they’d lower their guns, talk to us, and identify themselves.”
Not staged
Aplasca rejected claims that the incident was staged or intended to assist Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa in leaving the Senate.
“We didn’t have an advance information that Senator Bato would leave. That’s why the allegations that we staged the incident to help Sen. dela Rosa are hard to believe. First of all, we can’t stage the NBI coming to our area because if they weren’t there, if they didn’t arrive at the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and Senate area, the chaos wouldn’t have happened,” he said.
He added that staging would have required advance planning, which did not occur.
Bato's whereabouts
Aplasca said OSAA learned of Dela Rosa’s departure only minutes after he left, and that his current whereabouts remain unknown.
He said he was in a meeting with Senate Secretary Mark Llandro Mendoza and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group officials around 1 a.m. when he was informed that Dela Rosa and Sen. Robinhood Padilla had already left.
He expressed concern that the senators did not inform Senate security of their departure.
“As of now, we are making a lot of effort, but we still cannot get any information about the senator’s whereabouts. The nearest information that we have is that the Senate President’s statement that he texted the senator and his wife,” Aplasca said.
