The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) categorically denied having any operation inside the Senate on Wednesday night, May 13, following claims that its agents fired the first shots during the tense incident.
NBI chief Melvin Matibag clarified that the bureau had no role in serving the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrant against Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa.
“We have not deployed our agents there. There was no instruction to us to arrest Senator Dela Rosa,” Matibag said.
The denial came after some senators accused the NBI of instigating the confrontation by attempting to enforce the ICC warrant.
Dela Rosa faces charges of crimes against humanity for his alleged role in the Duterte administration’s bloody drug war.
Matibag recounted receiving a call from a senator asking him to remove supposed NBI agents from the Senate premises after gunfire was reported.
“I told the senator that we have no agents there, and there were really no agents there,” he stressed, even suggesting that any individuals posing as NBI personnel should be arrested.
He rejected calls to personally go to the Senate, saying: “We are already being accused that we were the ones who fired the shots. How can we go there?”
Matibag added that he was protecting his agents from being falsely implicated.
Responding to allegations that NBI operatives disguised themselves as media, Matibag insisted the bureau had no mission to arrest Dela Rosa.
He emphasized that the government had agreed to hold an interagency meeting before taking any action on the ICC warrant.
“Department of Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida even gave us instructions that we should not do anything,” Matibag said.
