Senators Raise Alarm After Potential Security Threat
Acting Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian ordered an immediate review of security protocols at the Senate in response to the warning of a potential security threat to the legislative complex.
A “very serious” security threat against the Senate flagged by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has triggered a recalibration of safety protocols, senators said on Tuesday, June 9.
Acting Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian ordered an immediate review of security protocols at the Senate in response to NBI’s warning of a potential security threat to the legislative complex.
Gatchalian convened the Senate Executive Committee and the Sergeant-at-Arms to make necessary adjustments following an intelligence briefing with NBI Director Melvin Matibag during Monday’s Blue Ribbon consultative meeting.
“According to the NBI – I can’t disclose it – intelligence information relayed to us senators indicate possible threat to security at the Senate,” Gatchalian said in Filipino in a radio interview. “And we need to adjust security efforts.”
He issued an advisory allowing a work-from-home arrangement on June 10-11. June 12 is a holiday.
Sen. Vicente Sotto III described the threat as a “clear and present danger therefore serious considerations must be taken.”
When asked if a lockdown or a suspension of the chamber’s conflicting committee hearings was on the table, Sotto said he was deferring to security personnel.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson said on radio dzMM that an intelligence report from the NBI revealed that the 18 former bagmen of expelled fugitive lawmaker Zaldy Co were intended to be used in a violent destabilization plot targeting the Senate.
Lacson said the intelligence suggests that “unauthorized, armed civilian elements” planned to infiltrate the Senate premises through a staged rescue of the 18 should they be cited in contempt and ordered arrested during a Blue Ribbon hearing.
Lacson said this should explain why the 18 men were mysteriously inside the Senate building on Monday despite their having no actual intention of appearing before the official Blue Ribbon consultative meeting.
Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano raised doubts on the veracity of the intelligence information as it came from the NBI and not from the OSAA.
“It did not come from the Senate’s own Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms, the office constitutionally charged with protecting this institution. It came from the NBI – and any honest accounting requires us to weigh that source carefully,” he said in a statement. – With Emmanuel Tupas, Alexis Romero
