Senator Pia Cayetano told the Senate impeachment court on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, that lawmakers were not naive to what she framed as an effort to rattle them, days before National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Melvin Matibag is due to testify in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Her objection centered on Matibag’s public disclosure that the NBI would examine alleged irregularities in the New Clark City Sports Complex in Capas, Tarlac, the venue built for the country’s hosting of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games. Her brother, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, chaired the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc) that ran the event, making him the obvious focus of any such inquiry.
To the senator, the manner of the announcement mattered as much as its substance. She argued that Matibag had a choice to work discreetly and instead chose to broadcast his plans while awaiting a summons to the witness stand.
“He is distracting us from our job. As Senator Alan said, he could do it quietly. Go ahead! Anong purpose niya? Nagyayabang siya? Is he trying to intimidate us not to ask him tough questions when he’s our resource person next week?” she said.
She then rejected the idea that the minority bloc was simply thin-skinned about the timing.
“Hindi tayo sensitive, sanay tayo dito. Pero alam din natin kung pinapatamaan tayo diba, alam natin ‘yun. Hindi tayo tanga,” she added.
Pia Cayetano pressed further on why Matibag had characterized the matter as significant before any formal investigation had run its course, noting that he described it as a big case in a Tuesday interview a portion of which she played on the Senate floor. According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, she asked whether he had actually examined the records yet, calling his conduct not merely unacceptable but possibly contemptible.
For his part, Matibag maintained that the bureau was already in possession of documents supporting its review of the New Clark City project. The Manila Bulletin reported that the NBI is looking at the absence of public bidding, unliquidated funds, and claims that the money was fast-tracked through a congressional insertion in the national budget.
The senator tied her alarm to the shrinking numbers of the Senate minority. She warned that her brother, one of only two lawyers left in the bloc, could be sidelined if the probe were to escalate into non-bailable charges, a reference to the earlier detentions of Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Rodante Marcoleta on plunder allegations.
Alan Peter Cayetano, for his part, insisted the sports complex drew no government funds at all, telling the court that the private sector had covered the cost of the facility.
Matibag is scheduled to appear before the impeachment court on Monday, July 20, 2026, where he is expected to testify on Article IV of the Articles of Impeachment concerning an alleged plot against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and members of his family.
