National Bureau of Investigation Director Melvin Matibag on Tuesday denied social media claims that he owns a mansion in the United States, saying the allegations were fabricated to undermine his credibility following his testimony in the Senate impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

Speaking to reporters, Matibag said the false claims surfaced shortly after his Senate appearance, alongside other attacks that he believes were intended to weaken his testimony.

"Prior to my testimony, nag-ramp up din ang mga fake news against me," Matibag said.

He said the online posts stemmed from a failure to verify publicly available property records.

According to Matibag, the property cited in the reports belongs to Melvin Bihon Sano Matibag, who is married to Anna Marie Laman, and not to him.

"Wala kaming property doon," he said, stressing that neither he nor his family owns property in the United States.

Matibag criticized the media outlet that first published the claim for failing to verify the information before reporting it. He added that another news organization later amplified the story, which was subsequently picked up by online content creators.

He said the original outlet later acknowledged its mistake after conducting further research.

"The reason for it was to impeach my credibility as a law enforcement officer," Matibag said, describing the allegations as "totally untrue."

He urged the public and media organizations to verify information using public records before publishing or sharing it online.