Alan Cayetano fumes: 'No question that Senate was under attack'

Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano on Thursday pounded the rostrum as he stressed that the Senate was “under attack” the night before, amid questions over the gunshots fired inside the Senate building.

“Kung tututukan kita ng baril, papasukin ko ang bahay mo na may baril ako, nag warning shot ka, pinutukan kita, pabalik, is it not an attack?” Cayetano began when asked if he considered the previous night’s incident as an attack, given that Senate security personnel fired the warning shot first.

(If I point a gun at you, I enter your house with a gun, you fired a warning shot, and I fired back, is it not an attack?)

“Sorry ha, but I don’t think there is any question, the Senate is under attack. Was under attack,” the Senate President said as he repeatedly pounded the podium.

“All of you – your lives were in danger last night. I know it’s your job to ask a question, but you will tell me kapag may nagpaputok, hindi under attack ‘yun (if someone fired shots, that’s not an attack)? My god, we’re a democracy. This is the Senate of the Philippines.”

The Senate President said an initial investigation of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) showed 32 shots were fired during Wednesday’s shooting incident.

Of this, 27 shots were allegedly fired by personnel of the Office of the Senate Sergeant-At-Arms (OSAA).

The OSAA allegedly first fired a warning shot, but the armed group retaliated and adopted a tactical position, leading to a three-minute exchange of gunfire.

“Kapag sinabi na kami muna ang nagpapaputok at umatras sila o sinabing guard sila ng GSIS, sabihin niyo baka ito ay gawa-gawa lang,” Cayetano said.

(When we say we first fired the shot and we continued to shoot despite them backing down, then they can say it was staged.)

“Pero nag-caucus kami dito. Hinihintay ang Articles of Impeachment... Napakagaling ko naman mag-orchestrate nang lahat ng yan. Kaya ko papuntahin dito mga armadong grupo,” he added.

(But we were on a caucus and were waiting for the Articles of Impeachment. If I did that, then I am so good in orchestrating because I can compel armed groups to come here.)

However, some critics – including Akbayan Party – raised questions that the incident might have been staged to mask the attempt of Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa to leave the building.

“We echo serious concerns that the incident may have been deliberately staged to manufacture chaos, potentially to mask an attempt by dela Rosa to escape and/or to pressure the Supreme Court into issuing a temporary restraining order (TRO) in his favor,” Akbayan President Rafaela David said in a statement.

Live news footage captured the sound of gunshots and people running away from the gunshots inside the Senate building, where Dela Rosa is under the upper chamber’s protective custody.

This was after the International Criminal Court (ICC) confirmed that it issued a warrant of arrest against him over his role in the Duterte administration’s war on illegal drugs.

A senator later confirmed that Dela Rosa left the Senate premises in the wee hours of Thursday.

In a Facebook Live, Cayetano previously said the Senate is “allegedly under attack,” as the upper house was on lockdown amid a warrant of arrest against dela Rosa. — JMA, GMA News