The Manila Times
MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano on Friday appealed to the Office of the Ombudsman to also place National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Melvin Matibag under preventive suspension, raising doubts over the information allegedly being relayed to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. following the shooting incident in the Senate on May 13. The appeal came after Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla ordered the six-month preventive suspension of acting Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Mao Aplasca, reportedly the first to fire upon seeing NBI agents in the area. In a Facebook Live broadcast on May 15, Cayetano said he accepted in good faith the President’s earlier assurance that authorities had been instructed to stand down, but questioned whether the Chief Executive was receiving accurate information regarding the incident. “I assume that the President is speaking the truth. The problem is, is he being told the truth?” Cayetano said, referring to Matibag’s reported insistence that no NBI officials had entered the Senate complex. President Marcos earlier said that no military or NBI units entered the Senate premises. Aplasca, however, maintained that armed NBI agents were inside the building and said he discharged a warning shot after the agents allegedly refused orders to lower their firearms. “Let me just appeal to the Ombudsman, suspend also the NBI Director because he is more of a suspect than General Mao (Aplasca) here,” Cayetano said.
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