THE Ombudsman has suspended Acting Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Mao Aplasca for six months for his role in the standoff at the Senate on Wednesday night over the attempted arrest of Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa.
Aplasca is said to be the first person to fire at National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents during the incident.
In a press briefing on Friday, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said the suspension order prevents Aplasca from influencing the ongoing investigation of the incident.
Remulla criticized Aplasca’s firing a warning shot toward the NBI agents, describing it as “disturbing” and “worrisome.”
“You are inside the building, and you’re firing at law enforcement? It’s so ironic that you’re firing a warning shot at law enforcement. What is he — is he higher than law enforcement? He is supposed to help the Senate maintain its rules, but if you’re going to fire at law enforcement, that’s a different story altogether,” Remulla said.
Remulla said Aplasca could face charges of obstruction of justice, failure to maintain public order and safety within the Senate premises, gross neglect of duty and even aiding or abetting a criminal or a fugitive from justice.
He further said a combined investigating panel made up of the Ombudsman, the NBI, the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Office of the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms is being planned.
He said the panel will begin issuing subpoenas next week and will look at every angle, including the allegation that the entire standoff was a “show.”
Remulla said members of the media who were at the Senate on Wednesday could also help in the investigation by filing their own account of the incident.
He chided Dela Rosa for continuing to evade arrest.
“I am wondering about him — he became Chief of the PNP, yet he is hiding from the law. He should face it! Why is he causing such a mess? You should be held accountable for your actions,” Remulla said.
Meanwhile, Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano on Friday appealed to the Office of the Ombudsman to also place NBI Director Melvin Matibag under preventive suspension.
In a Facebook Live broadcast on May 15, Cayetano said he accepted in good faith President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s earlier assurance that authorities had been instructed to stand down, but questioned whether the chief executive was receiving accurate information regarding the incident.
“I assume that the President is speaking the truth. The problem is, is he being told the truth?” Cayetano said, referring to Matibag’s reported insistence that no NBI officials had entered the Senate complex.
President Marcos earlier said that no military personnel or NBI agents entered the Senate premises.
Aplasca, however, maintained that armed NBI agents were inside the building.
“Let me just appeal to the Ombudsman, suspend also the NBI Director because he is more of a suspect than General Mao [Aplasca] here,” Cayetano said.
Cayetano stressed that any investigation into the incident must not only produce credible results but also follow a process perceived as impartial by all parties involved.
“Remember, in an investigation, it’s not only about the result; it’s about the process. There will be no independent investigation until the NBI is also suspended, and not only the Senate is suspended,” he said.
The Senate chief also defended the chamber’s response to the incident, saying the institution fully cooperated with investigators by granting access to closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage and other transparency measures.
“We allowed every single transparency measure, we allowed the investigation,” he said.
