CCTV footage shows Aplasca firing without clear target
MANILA, Philippines — The CCTV footage on the evening of May 13 at the Senate showed that suspended Acting Sergeant-at-Arms Mao Aplasca fired his gun at an unclear target.
In a press conference at Malacanang on Tuesday, May 19, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remull, along with Philippine National Police Chief Jose Melencio Naratez Jr. and Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida presented CCTV footage showing that Aplasca fired shots in the direction of a National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agent posted at the GSIS compound bordering the Senate building.
The CCTV footage showed that the NBI agent did not raise his gun, contrary to Aplasca's statement on May 14.
When Aplasca fired, the NBI agent was seen running for cover, after which he responded with covering fire.
It was also seen that Aplasca’s gun jammed while firing before he retreated to where media personnel were positioned.
The incident occurred on the evening of May 13 amid the fiasco in the Senate linked to the International Criminal Court warrant.
Amid the incident, Aplasca, along with personnel from the Office of the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms (OSAA), engaged the NBI agents whom they claimed tried to “attack” the Senate.
Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano repeatedly insisted that the Senate was under attack, although CCTV footage showed that NBI agents did not intrude on Senate grounds.
It was also seen that Aplasca ordered Marines and the OSAA personnel "lock and load" before proceeding to the shooting incident.
No order to secure the Senate. Remulla explained that before the operation, Aplasca did not issue an order to secure the Senate.
“There was no order to secure the Senate ‘cause normally in a heat of the moment like that, your first order would be secure the premises. However, he want straight out and then he went straight to the press and then he reported,” Remulla said.
Reporters pressed Aplasca on May 14, asking whether he could have announced that an operation would take place before the gunfight.
Aplasca said he issued the warning, saying that the Senate will be on lockdown in five minutes.
NBI never set foot in Senate. Remulla said that NBI agents never set foot inside the Senate.
He added that the NBI agents had no tactical gear when they entered the GSIS premises, according to Remulla.
“They were dressed as NBI agents clearly identified, nakalagay but none of them had tactical gear with them,” Remulla.
(They were dressed as NBI agents clearly identified, but none of them had tactical gear with them.)
Remulla also said that since early that morning, the GSIS maintenance team had been fortifying all entrances connecting the Senate and the GSIS.
He noted that the GSIS team had duly notified the Senate maintenance management about the ongoing drilling on all connecting doors, clarifying that Senate management was fully aware that the doors in the GSIS area were being fortified.
“So, hindi gulatan ito,” Remulla said.
(So, this was not a surprise.)
On May 15, the Office of the Ombudsman issued a preventive suspension order against Aplasca over the gunfight incident. It was received by the Senate Secretary on May 18.
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