PNP downgrades to heightened alert status after Senate shooting

The Philippine National Police (PNP) downgraded to heightened alert status on Thursday following the tensions on the Senate premises on Wednesday evening.

“The alert level status of all PNP offices and units has been downgraded to heightened alert status effective 5 p.m. today, May 14, 2026, following the prevailing assessment of the security situation,” the PNP said in a statement.

“The PNP continues to maintain readiness and appropriate security measures to ensure public safety and order,” it added.

Amid the chaos inside the Senate building, where gunshots were heard during lockdown, the PNP raised the full alert status on Wednesday.

Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla said that armed men tried to enter the Senate building through its second floor. He added that personnel from the Senate’s Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms (OSAA) fired a warning shot at them.

Meanwhile, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Melvin Matibag on Thursday said that the driver who was arrested following the shooting incident at the Senate on Wednesday night was not an official employee of the agency.

Matibag was referring to Mel Oragon, whom a police report identified as a 44-year-old male supposedly employed as a driver at the NBI. —VBL, GMA News