The Philippine Senate refused to accept a subpoena from the Office of the Ombudsman seeking closed-circuit television footage of last Wednesday’s shooting incident within the Senate complex, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla disclosed Saturday.
Remulla, speaking on dzRH radio, said a process server dispatched to the Senate was turned away despite a prior notice having already been issued. He maintained the subpoena was legally valid regardless of the Senate’s refusal.
“We have a problem with this. The Senate did not want to accept our process server but there was already a notice,” Remulla said. “I can’t understand because for me, it is already considered served even if they did not accept it because they have a notice.”
Beyond the Senate footage, Remulla said his office would also seek recordings from journalists who covered the incident — part of a broader Ombudsman investigation he announced Friday that will call in all parties present, among them senators, reporters, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Philippine National Police, and the Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms.
The subpoena dispute follows Remulla’s Friday order placing acting Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Ma. O Aplasca on a six-month preventive suspension without pay, effective immediately. That move drew sharp criticism from Senate President Allan Cayetano, who called on Remulla to similarly suspend NBI Director Melvin Matibag, whom he described as “more (of) a suspect than General Mao here.”
Cayetano argued that any armed individual in Aplasca’s position would have fired a warning shot under the same circumstances. Remulla rejected that framing outright.
“To fire a warning shot against the law enforcement, you think that you are above the law already but nobody is above the law. I’m sorry. Even if you work for the Senate, nobody is above the law. We can’t allow anyone to neglect the NBI and the police,” Remulla said.
Aplasca has acknowledged firing the first warning shot at an NBI agent in the vicinity of the Senate, saying it came after a verbal warning went unheeded and preceded an exchange of gunfire. Aplasca said it was “unusual for NBI not to coordinate” with Senate security when operating in the area, including in the adjacent Government Service Insurance System building.
Palace press officer Claire Castro confirmed Thursday that GSIS president and general manager Wick Veloso had requested NBI assistance to secure the GSIS building amid rising tension over the possible arrest of Senator Ronald dela Rosa.
