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Alexis Romero - The Philippine Star
May 19, 2026 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Contrary to claims made by Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano and other members of the new majority bloc, the Senate was not under attack, Malacañang maintained yesterday.
“Was it under attack? It was not. The Senate was not under attack. You can see that from the news, not only from the statements of the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) and PNP (Philippine National Police),” Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro pointed out during a press briefing.
“It was only the statement made by Senator Alan Cayetano. So, as far as we are concerned, as far as the government is concerned, the Senate was never under attack,” she added.
Pressed if the administration shares the view that the shooting incident was staged, Castro said: “I cannot say anything about that. I cannot make a judgment if it is staged, orchestrated, planned. But you can assess that from the reports also made by some journalists, some reporters.”
The NBI previously said that Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Mao Aplasca was the one who fired the warning shot that triggered the shooting incident.
Marcos had said that his administration was not behind the chaos, which erupted as the Senate prepared to conduct the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Disappointed
Meanwhile, President Marcos was “disappointed” that Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, who has a standing arrest warrant for alleged crimes against humanity, managed to slip out of the Senate building despite being under the chamber’s protective custody, Castro said.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) defended its decision not to arrest Dela Rosa last week, which it said was rooted in compliance with the law rather than unwillingness.
Aplasca suspension
The Office of the Ombudsman has served the orders suspending Aplasca and demanding copies of footage inside the premises when the exchange of gunfire took place last week.
“The Senate secretariat has received the subpoena for the footage of the CCTV for May 13 and the events that followed the incident,” Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano said yesterday.
“Ombudsman personnel were in the Senate to attempt to serve the Order of Preventive Suspension of acting SAA Aplasca as well as the subpoena for the CCTV footage,” he added.
Asked whether the Senate would implement the suspension order against Aplasca, Cayetano said the matter has yet to be discussed.
NBI volunteer freed
The NBI volunteer driver arrested during the Senate shooting last week was released yesterday after posting P116,000 bail.
The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) confirmed to The STAR that a Pasay court set the bail for Mel Oragon, 44, at P80,000 for violating the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act and P36,000 for direct assault.
Oragon – not his legal name – is facing a string of charges that also include alarm and scandal, tumultuous disturbance of public order, resistance and disobedience to a person in authority or agents of such person, disturbance of proceedings and trespass to property.
NBI Director Melvin Matibag previously said that Oragon is not an official employee and was only enlisted by his handler-agent, who was deployed to secure the GSIS building at the request of the state insurer’s president and general manager Wick Veloso.
The NCRPO said Oragon tested positive for nitrates, but its spokesperson Maj. Hazel Asilo said in a phone interview that “this is not conclusive” that he had fired a gun.
The Supreme Court has held that a paraffin test is “extremely unreliable” in criminal forensics.
“The presence of nitrates should be taken only as an indication of a possibility or even of a probability but not of infallibility that a person has fired a gun, since nitrates are also admittedly found in substances other than gunpowder,” the high court ruled in People v. Gaborne in 2016.
Asilo said no firearm was recovered from Oragon, only a magazine, a tactical bag and an NBI badge.
Southern Police District spokesperson Lt. Margaret Panaga also noted that testing positive for gunpowder nitrates is inconclusive of firearm discharge. — Ghio Ong, EJ Macababbad, Emmanuel Tupas, Neil Jayson Servallos
