The National Bureau of Investigation is moving to widen its probe into the alleged extortion scheme linked to Peanut Gallery Media Network, with its director disclosing that a number of government officials and private individuals may have been similarly targeted.
NBI Director Melvin Matibag said the agency had been approached by officials who hinted at comparable experiences, though none had explicitly filed complaints. “No one has directly said that they were being blackmailed but from the looks of it, it seems to be the direction they wanted to go,” he said. When pressed on how many had come forward, Matibag said “quite a number,” declining to identify their positions.
To pursue the leads, the NBI is seeking a cyberwarrant for forensic examination of phones seized from PGMN founder Franco Mabanta and four others. Matibag said deleted content would not necessarily be beyond reach. “Even if they had deleted stuff using other devices, we have equipment, a tool to get all those messages, videos that they may have deleted,” he said.
The arrest stemmed from an entrapment operation in which NBI agents posed as representatives of former Speaker Martin Romualdez, delivering three suitcases containing a reported P75 million — mostly fake bills — at Valle Verde Country Club in Pasig City on Tuesday night. Arrested alongside Mabanta were finance officer Ericson James Pacaba, incorporator John Alexander Vasquez Gomez, and employees Jardine Christian Requio Serrano and Franco Jose Gallardo.
Matibag said the alleged scheme began last year and was revived two weeks ago when Mabanta reportedly sent Romualdez a teaser clip and demanded P350 million, later negotiated to P300 million. PGMN anchor CJ Hirro, who allegedly appeared in the clip, has been summoned as a person of interest.
Mabanta denied the allegations, saying his group was set up. “How can we extort when they were the ones who came to us,” he said after his arrest. PGMN separately claimed it had spent five months investigating what it called “breathtaking national corruption” by Romualdez and insisted no threats were made, but did not say when it planned to release the video.
Spokesperson Elaine Atienza rejected the press freedom framing. “The real question is: Did anyone ask for money in exchange for silence?” she said, arguing that sitting on footage for weeks while seeking payment was not journalism. “That is NOT journalism, that is extortion,” she added.
The case comes days after Bicol Saro Representative Terry Ridon filed a resolution seeking a congressional investigation into PGMN’s alleged disinformation operations, citing a viral post that compared electricity bills from two different account numbers to falsely suggest a dramatic price spike.
