The chain of command behind a thwarted arrest order at the Senate has become a focus for investigators, with Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla saying authorities may examine whether Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano had any involvement in the May 13 gunfire incident inside the chamber.
What Remulla wants clarified is who instructed suspended Office of the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms chief Mao Aplasca to detain someone that day. Aplasca had told reporters ahead of the shooting that the building would be locked down and an arrest would follow. According to Remulla, the unanswered question of who issued that directive has stayed with him.
Police have separately tied the shooting to the departure of Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa from the premises, a conclusion the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group reached and that Remulla shares. The CIDG has lodged an obstruction of justice complaint against Sen. Robinhood Padilla and five others, alleging they aided Dela Rosa’s exit even as a heavy police presence ringed the building.
Padilla is not the only lawmaker under scrutiny. PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. confirmed that other members of the majority bloc are being looked at over the escape, and that the matter now rests with prosecutors. “All of them. Yes. The records of investigation have been forwarded to the DOJ (Department of Justice). They prosecute, we produce the evidence,” Nartatez said.
These developments unfolded as Cayetano used a lengthy Facebook livestream to push back against what he called the “Solid Bloc 11” and an alleged plot to unseat him. In the same broadcast, he laid out plans to revive the chamber’s stalled inquiry into anomalous flood control spending.
That revived probe will be steered not by anti-graft committee chair Sen. Pia Cayetano, his sister, but by vice chair Sen. Rodante Marcoleta. The Senate President said a lunchtime majority caucus had agreed to stand up a subcommittee for the purpose, with Marcoleta set to send out invitations on Monday for a hearing later in the week.
Several majority figures already carry exposure from the scandal. Sens. Jinggoy Estrada, Joel Villanueva and Francis Escudero were each examined over the flood control mess after surfacing in last year’s Blue Ribbon proceedings under then-chair Sen. Panfilo Lacson. Cayetano framed the renewed effort as a search for complete answers rather than a partial accounting. “It will be impartial and we want the whole truth and not only some truth,” he said.
