Ombudsman: Senate sgt-at-arms ‘dismissed’

After filing separate plunder charges against Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Rodante Marcoleta, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said on Saturday that he had also dismissed from the service the former acting Senate sergeant-at-arms, who allegedly triggered the gunfire that rattled the Senate in May.

Speaking on the “Executive Session” program on dzRH radio, Remulla said he dismissed former police general Mao Ranada Aplasca from his post at the Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms (Osaa) of the Senate and as sergeant-at-arms of the Commission on Appointments, on June 29.

He declined to provide details of his decision, which followed an investigation of the May 13 shooting incident inside the Senate building, which is adjacent to the offices of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) in Pasay City.

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It wasn’t clear whether Aplasca, as a retired police officer, would lose his pension as a consequence of his dismissal.

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“We will release the decision for people to see because it is difficult to explain,” Remulla said.

The Ombudsman suspended Aplasca for six months following the shooting, which occurred during a turbulent week at the Senate that began with the appearance, after a six-month absence, of Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa.

Dela Rosa showed up unannounced at the Senate on May 11 as agents from the National Bureau of Investigation waited to serve him a warrant of arrest from the International Criminal Court, where he is charged with crimes against humanity as a co-perpetrator of President Rodrigo Duterte.

He had been in hiding to evade the warrant since November 2025.

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Dela Rosa managed to escape from the hands of the NBI agents until he was able to reach the session hall. His presence created the crucial shift to a new majority, who elected Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano as Senate president, ousting Sen. Vicente “Tito” Sotto III.

Bato’s PMA ‘mistah’

After Cayetano publicly castigated then Sergeant-at-Arms Edgardo Rene Samonte for the near-arrest of Dela Rosa, the retired Air Force major general promptly resigned.

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Dela Rosa nominated Aplasca, one of his classmates at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), to replace Samonte. The senators approved Aplasca’s appointment as acting head of the Osaa.

During the Senate session, Marcoleta moved to put Dela Rosa under the “protective custody” of the Senate to prevent him from being taken by the NBI.

On May 13, gunshots rang out at one of the corridors on the second floor of the Senate building that leads to a passage to the GSIS. The loud shots sent journalists and Senate staff running in panic. No one suffered any gunshot injuries.

Hours later, Dela Rosa was seen on a Senate CCTV video boarding a car with Sen. Robinhood Padilla. The vehicle left the Senate and Dela Rosa again went into hiding.

On May 20, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police recommended the filing of complaints against Aplasca and two Osaa security personnel for firing their weapons “without provocation” in violation of Republic Act No. 11917, or the Private Security Services Industry Act.

Protocol not followed

CIDG Director Police Maj. Gen. Robert Morico II said Aplasca did not follow protocol and disregarded legal requirements for the justified use of firearms. The acting Osaa chief and his team encountered “no unlawful aggression” that night.

Before the shooting broke out, Aplasca verbally asked one of the NBI agents he encountered to identify himself, according to a report sent by Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla to Cayetano.

After the agent identified himself as “NBI,” Aplasca allegedly saw the agent raising a “long firearm,” prompting the Osaa chief to fire a “warning shot,” the report added.

According to Morico, the NBI agent fired at least five shots as he stepped back—all directed away from Aplasca. The agent then met his companion and they regrouped with the rest of their team, the CIDG chief said.

Aplasca disputed the accuracy of CCTV videos presented by the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Philippine National Police purportedly showing him firing shots at the NBI agent. Aplasca said it was “spliced” to “support their narrative.”

Morico said that 39 of the 44 spent shells recovered at the scene came from only three guns, all issued to the Osaa team. He described the action taken by the Osaa personnel in the May 13 incident as “overkill.”

Addressing a rally by thousands of Iglesia ni Cristo members protesting against Marcoleta’s imminent arrest on June 30, Padilla referred to the CCTV video as he defended himself from allegations that he helped Dela Rosa to escape.

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“Does Bato look like he escaped?” he said, speaking in Filipino. “Incredible! We were just walking, we rode a car, we went out. There were thousands of police, no one stopped to arrest us. How is that an escape?” —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH