Summary:
The CIDG recommended charges against suspended Senate Osaa chief Mao Aplasca and two personnel for violating Republic Act 11917 rules of engagement during a May 13, 2026 shooting at the Senate.
High-ranking officials confirmed CCTV footage showed an unprovoked Aplasca fired first after a wall-drilling sound triggered a panic, despite earlier coordination between Senate and GSIS maintenance teams regarding door fortifications.
Investigators recovered 44 spent cartridges from four firearms linked to three Osaa personnel and one NBI agent, while the Ombudsman placed Aplasca under a six-month preventive suspension following the incident.
VIOLATION of the rules of engagement and the law governing the private security industry has prompted the police to recommend charges against retired general Mao Aplasca, the suspended chief of the Senate Office of Sergeant-at-Arms (Osaa), over the May 13, 2026 shooting at the Senate building.
Maj. Gen. Alexander Morico, director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), said Aplasca and two other Osaa personnel failed to follow standard procedures during the confrontation inside the Senate premises.
Morico explained that the use of force and firearms by the Osaa is governed by the implementing rules and regulations of the Private Security Services Act, or Republic Act 11917. Under this law, security personnel must observe six distinct stages before using lethal force.
“The use of a warning shot is not included in this (law). Even under the police operational procedures of the PNP, we are not allowed to fire a warning shot,” Morico said in a mix of Tagalog and English.
The CIDG has turned over the findings of its investigation into the incident to the Department of Justice for further assessment and verification.
Standoff over arrest warrant
The charges stem from a high-profile standoff on May 13, which occurred after Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa resurfaced two days earlier to secure support for a change in Senate leadership. Dela Rosa had been in hiding for more than six months following an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in connection with the Duterte administration’s anti-drug campaign.
He returned to the Senate on May 11 and cast the vote that led to the removal of the sitting Senate leadership and the installation of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano as Senate president. Following the vote, Dela Rosa nominated Aplasca, his Philippine Military Academy classmate, as acting Osaa chief to oversee his custody within the Senate complex.
The situation escalated on the evening of May 13 after the Supreme Court deferred immediate relief related to the ICC warrant. A live-streamed appeal for public intervention was followed by a confrontation inside the Senate building involving Senate security personnel and agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
“Unprovoked shots fired”
In a press conference in Malacañang on Tuesday, May 19, Interior and Local Government Sec. Jonvic Remulla and Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. confirmed that an unprovoked Aplasca fired the first shots during the shooting.
Closed-circuit television footage later verified that Aplasca discharged his firearm during the incident.
Nartatez said that based on the investigation, an NBI agent — who was deployed in the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) building as requested by the agency’s top leaders — also discharged his firearm while retreating to provide cover fire, as he was already being fired upon by the Osaa.
Before the shooting, a drilling sound heard coming from the wall separating the Senate and GSIS premises triggered panic among the occupants of the Senate building, including senators and journalists. This prompted Aplasca to issue a “lock-and-load” order to the Osaa, as well as to Philippine Marines and PNP personnel deployed in the Senate complex.
However, the investigation showed that earlier that day, the maintenance management of both the Senate and the GSIS had held a meeting, during which Senate officials were informed of the fortification of the door leading to and from the GSIS building.
“We have ongoing investigations. Included in our investigation is who fed General Aplasca the wrong information that we were going to be attacked. Even the media who were there were agitated from the very start, right there on the ground floor when someone was drilling, and who was remiss in their duty to verify from their counterpart what was really happening on the other side of GSIS,” Morico said.
Ballistic examination
Investigators retrieved 44 spent cartridges following the shooting, which ballistic examinations revealed came from only four firearms. Nartatez said that of the four shooters, three were Osaa personnel, including Aplasca, and one was an NBI agent.
All recovered spent shells have been accounted for and identified as coming from the two Osaa personnel and the NBI agent, except for 23 believed to have come from Aplasca’s firearm. Morico said the firearms of all the suspected shooters have been surrendered to the CIDG and will undergo ballistic examination.
During the lockdown that followed the shootout, Dela Rosa left the Senate complex at around 2:30 a.m. on May 14 in a vehicle owned by Sen. Robinhood Padilla. Following the incident, Dela Rosa has not appeared in legislative sessions.
The Office of the Ombudsman later placed Aplasca under a six-month preventive suspension for discharging his firearm during the confrontation. Aplasca maintained that he believed the Senate was under attack from outside forces, but Morico added that Aplasca refused to heed the subpoena issued to him by the CIDG. / TPM