Suspended Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Ma-o Aplasca said Wednesday that his office is preparing to release what he described as the complete video footage of the May 13 shooting incident inside the Senate building, claiming the clips earlier presented to authorities were “spliced.”
In a chance interview, Aplasca alleged that only selected portions of the videos were shown to support a particular version of events.
“We are preparing the complete video because what they did, they sliced the videos. They just selected the videos that will support their narrative. It’s not correct,” Aplasca said.
He said the full footage would challenge the statement of Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla that there was no attack on the Senate during the incident.
Aplasca maintained that the Senate was under attack on May 13 and said their side would present video evidence to support that claim.
“Yes, we were under attack. We will show you the video,” he said.
He also said a coordination meeting was held at the Office of the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms a day before the incident in preparation for the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
According to Aplasca, the meeting was attended by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) security manager and personnel detailed to the Senate from the Philippine National Police (PNP), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). He said there was no mention that National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents would be arriving at the Senate, and no NBI representative attended the meeting.
“Everything is about the impending impeachment, security preparations. I invited the security manager of the GSIS, he was there. He did not say anything about the NBI arrival here,” Aplasca said.
Aplasca also disclosed that he spoke with Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) director Maj. Gen. Robert Morico on Tuesday and requested more time to prepare evidence related to the police investigation.
He denied claims that his office was withholding evidence, saying the Senate side would submit CCTV footage, firearms, and personnel to investigators.
“It is not true that we are holding evidence — CCTV, firearms, our personnel — we will submit them,” he said.