Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano has placed NBI Director Melvin Matibag at the center of the ongoing political storm following last Wednesday’s gunfire inside the Senate complex, alleging a pattern of deliberate deception aimed not just at the legislative chamber — but at President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself.
Speaking in a Friday Facebook livestream, Cayetano recounted a direct phone call with the President, who had relayed assurances that he ordered all security forces — the military, the Philippine National Police, and the National Bureau of Investigation — to stand down. Cayetano said he pushed back.
“The president — and I thank him for calling, checking how we are, and assuring us that he told everyone to stand down, the military, the PNP, and the NBI. But I told him: Sir, the NBI has been lying to us. He said no, the NBI will follow him. I said: Sir, with all due respect, [Interior] Secretary Jonvic [Remulla] is here. He will give you a report,” Cayetano said.
He went further, questioning Matibag’s credibility directly: “The NBI director has been making one lie after another. I believe he’s lying to the president. That is my personal belief. I believe he is giving him false narratives. He was with Senator [Antonio] Trillanes last Monday. Senator Trillanes had no personality to do that, but he is in coordination with many.”
Cayetano cited a succession of alleged NBI misrepresentations beginning Monday, when agents attempted to arrest Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa after the senator made an unexpected appearance at the Senate plenary session following a six-month absence. The NBI initially denied having any personnel inside the Senate premises. That position shifted after a man identified as a confidential agent was apprehended and charged — and reportedly named who within the NBI gave him his orders.
“After the press conference, they caught someone. He said he was a confidential assistant, a confidential agent. That was confirmed, and he was charged. And he also said who in the NBI ordered him to do that. It is about this time that the NBI changed its narrative,” Cayetano said.
The Bureau then claimed GSIS management had formally requested their presence — an explanation Cayetano dismissed outright, noting that the GSIS has no history of seeking NBI security and that such functions fall under the police, not the NBI. The Senate sits adjacent to the GSIS Building within the GSIS complex in Pasay City.
Cayetano also alleged that a specific commitment from Matibag — that there would be no NBI checkpoints around the Senate building — was broken. Video evidence, he said, shows NBI personnel requesting that senators’ vehicles be opened for inspection on Monday.
Dela Rosa’s return to the Senate had been shadowed by reports that NBI agents planned to execute an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against him, stemming from his alleged role in the Duterte administration’s drug war. Two days after his reappearance, gunshots rang out inside the Senate’s halls.
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla and Palace press officer Undersecretary Claire Castro separately confirmed at a Thursday press briefing that Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Ma. O Aplasca fired the first warning shot. Aplasca himself later acknowledged this, saying it was out of protocol for NBI agents to enter the vicinity without first coordinating with Senate security.
Rather than defend Aplasca’s actions as an error, Cayetano framed them as instinctive and justified — arguing that any person confronted by armed men in tactical gear approaching their home would have reacted the same way.
Cayetano took that reasoning a step further, calling on Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla to hold Matibag to the same standard. If the Ombudsman moves to suspend Aplasca, Cayetano argued, the NBI Director — whose personnel were the aggressors — is more deserving of that measure.
Sen. Jinggoy Estrada echoed that position, saying the Senate majority bloc stands firmly behind Aplasca. Estrada, speaking to reporters by phone, said the warning shot was a proportionate response given the circulating reports that armed elements were about to breach the Senate.
