Palace: Shooting could've been avoided if Senate called NBI's Matibag earlier

Malacañang on Tuesday said the controversial shooting incident at the Senate last week could have been prevented had the Senate leadership initially clarified with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) their purpose for going to the complex.

Citing the Facebook live posts of some members of the new Senate majority bloc, Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said NBI Director Melvin Matibag was only contacted after shots were fired inside the Senate premises.

“Hindi ba dapat mas tinawagan ito earlier? Dapat tinawagan ito earlier si Atty. Matibag noong hindi pa nagkakaputukan, noong sinabi ni Sergeant-at-Arms General Mao Aplasca na may sighting siyang nakikita na NBI na naka-armas,” Castro said in an interview on Balitanghali.

(Shouldn't the NBI Director have been called earlier? Atty. Matibag should have been called immediately even before the commotion, when Sergeant-at-Arms General Mao Aplasca said he had a sighting of someone from the NBI armed with a gun.)

“So with that, mas mapipigilan siguro 'yung warning shot na ginawa ni sergeant-at-arms kung tinawagan muna si NBI Director kung ano ang purpose ng isang NBI agent doon sa nasabing lugar sa may bridgeway,” she added.

(So with that, the warning shot fired by the Sergeant-at-Arms could have been prevented if the NBI Director had been called first to clarify the purpose of the NBI agent reportedly in the area by the bridgeway.)

Malacañang earlier said Senate Sergeant-at-Arms and retired Police Major General Mao Aplasca fired the first of what Aplasca claims were warning shots during the incident on May 13.

This came after Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) President and General Manager Jose Arnulfo "Wick" Veloso requested assistance from the NBI to secure their premises.

The Senate occupies rented space at the GSIS complex in Pasay City.

Aplasca, for his part, said the Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms (OSAA) personnel first issued a verbal warning before shots were fired.

Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano earlier urged the Ombudsman to suspend Matibag over the shooting incident.

Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla instead placed Aplasca under preventive suspension for six months without pay over discharging his firearm that triggered the commotion. —RF, GMA News