Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida rejected Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano’s call to suspend NBI Director Melvin Matibag alongside Acting Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Mao Aplasca, saying he sees no grounds for such a move and that it is not within his authority as Justice Secretary to issue a preventive suspension against the NBI chief.
“I don’t see any reason for issuing any preventive suspension. First, it’s not within the authority of the Secretary of Justice to do that over Director Melvin Matibag. Second, I don’t see any reason why Director Melvin Matibag will be suspended or preventively suspended given the current circumstances,” Vida said during a press conference Friday afternoon, May 15.
Cayetano had earlier made a direct public appeal to Ombudsman Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla to suspend Matibag, saying the NBI Director is more culpable in the Senate shooting incident than Aplasca—who the Ombudsman had already slapped with a six-month preventive suspension effective Friday.
“Suspend also the NBI Director, because he is more a suspect than General Mao dito,” Cayetano said in his own press conference earlier Friday.
Vida’s rejection of the suspension call came even as he confirmed, in a brief but significant exchange at the end of his press conference, that he was aware of the NBI’s deployment to the GSIS and Senate premises during the May 11-14 standoff.
When asked directly whether NBI Director Matibag had coordinated with him on the deployment, Vida answered with a simple “Yes.”
The Justice Secretary said the DOJ will instead allow its newly formed special panel of prosecutors to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the Senate shooting incident and all related events from May 11 to May 14, stressing that it would be premature to assign liability or take personnel action against anyone before the panel concludes its work.
The panel has been vested with subpoena powers and has been given authority to gather all relevant evidence, including CCTV footage, ballistic results, deployment records, communication logs, and witness statements.
Vida ordered all concerned law enforcement agencies — including the PNP, the NBI, the NCRPO, and the Pasay City Police—to preserve and submit all relevant evidence within 48 hours, with an initial report deadline set at 5:00 PM Wednesday next week.
The Office of the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms has been similarly requested to submit a report and turn over all relevant evidence through the Office of the Senate President.
Ombudsman Remulla, for his part, had earlier said the Ombudsman’s investigation would be independent and that the suspension of Aplasca was necessary to prevent him from influencing the probe.
Cayetano seized on the Ombudsman’s action to argue that the same standard must apply to Matibag—saying there can be no truly independent investigation while NBI officials who may be implicated remain in their posts.
Vida said he remains open to coordinating with the Ombudsman to avoid duplication, noting that the two investigations may overlap but can work in tandem. “Ang katotohanan lamang naman po ang mamamayani,” he said.
