Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano said he took offense at Executive Secretary Ralph Recto for sharing a Facebook post suggesting the Senate shooting incident on the night of May 13 was “staged and pre-planned,” saying the post was irresponsible given that an investigation is still ongoing.
“I take offense that the Executive Secretary posted in his Facebook na ‘staged’ without waiting for the investigation,” Cayetano said during a press conference Friday afternoon, May 15.
The post shared by Recto on his official Facebook page came from “Millennials’ Voice,” a Facebook page, which suggested that Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Mao Aplasca was caught on live video giving instructions and loading his weapon before the shots were fired—and concluded that “the incident was clearly staged and pre-planned.” Recto shared the post without a visible caption.
Cayetano said what made the post particularly galling was that Recto never called to check on the welfare of the senators who were inside the Senate during the shooting.
“Ni hindi ako nakatanggap ng tawag sa kanya na, ‘Kamusta na mga senador? Kamusta kayo?'” Cayetano said.
The Senate President made an emotional appeal, asking those in the Executive Department to consider how they would feel if their own family members had been inside the Senate during the shooting.
“Kung anak niyo po kaya ‘yung nandun? Kung asawa niyo po kaya ‘yung nandun?” Cayetano said, citing the trauma experienced by senators, their families, and staff who were trapped inside the building as shots rang out.
Cayetano specifically mentioned Senator Joel Villanueva’s children, Senator Camille Villar—who gave birth only months ago—and his own sister, saying the ordeal could have had fatal consequences for those with health conditions.
“Yung mga anak ni Joel Villanueva, haven’t they suffered enough kahit na sunod-sunod ang false narratives niyo sa kanila? Si Camille, bata pa, kakapanganak lang ‘di ba a few months ago, nandun po naipit sa loob,” he said.
Cayetano stressed that the Senate’s own transparency measures during and after the shooting—surrendering all CCTV footage, allowing a floor-by-floor sweep by the PNP, and cooperating fully with the joint investigation—should be taken into account before anyone rushes to declare the incident staged.
“We allowed every single transparency measure, we allowed the investigation,” he said, adding that the evidence visible in circulating videos clearly shows what actually happened.
The Senate President said he continues to assume good faith on the part of President Marcos, believing the President was speaking truthfully when he called to assure the Senate that he had ordered the military, PNP, and NBI to stand down.
“I assume that when I am told as Senate President and what the President speaks, he is speaking truth. Ang problema, is he being told the truth?” Cayetano said.
