No NBI agents at Senate premises, says Matibag 

National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director Melvin Matibag said that there were no agents deployed at the Senate following the gunshots heard at the chamber’s premises on Wednesday evening.

Matibag said that NBI officials are in a three-day fellowship event in a hotel. He shared that Senator Loren Legarda called him about dispersing NBI agents from the Senate premises.

“Nakatanggap ako ng tawag kay Senator Loren na paalisin ko raw yung mga agent ng NBI. Sabi ko, ‘Wala kaming agent diyan.’ Wala naman po talaga, kasi daw nagpaputok. Sabi ko pa-imbestigahan niyo, pa-huli niyo yung mga nagpapaputok. Dahil sigurado ako na wala kaming tao na nandiyan sa loob ng Senado,” he told GMA News.

(I received a call from Senator Loren [Legarda] telling me to pull out the NBI agents. I said, ‘We don’t have any agents there.’ There really were none, but she said someone had fired shots. I told her to have it investigated and have those who fired the shots arrested. Because I am certain that none of our people are inside the Senate.)

Gunshots rang out at the Senate on Wednesday evening amid an ongoing lockdown at the upper chamber, where Senator Ronald Dela Rosa is under protective custody.

Meanwhile, Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla and Philippine National Police chief Jose Melencio Nartatez have already arrived at the Senate.

Remulla said that no one was reported hurt from the tensions.

“Inuutusan nila ako, ‘Pumunta ka rito, mag-imbestiga ka.’ Ang problema po ay napapagbintangan kami na kami ang nagpaputok, paano naman kami pupunta, baka masubo naman yung aming mga ahente,” Matibag added.—LDF, GMA News