Matibag: NBI checking for other ‘victims’ of Mabanta
The National Bureau of Investigation said on Thursday that it would look for other possible victims of alleged blackmailing by the Peanut Gallery Media Network (PGMN) whose founder was arrested for allegedly trying to extort money from former Speaker Martin Romualdez, threatening to release a supposed video of his alleged corruption.
After the arrest on Tuesday night of PGMN founder Franco Mabanta and four others, NBI Director Melvin Matibag told reporters on Wednesday that he was approached by some government officials who indicated that they had a similar experience.
“No one has directly said that they were being blackmailed but from the looks of it, it seems to be the direction they wanted to go,” he said when asked whether there were other officials who reached out to the NBI with similar complaints.
He said that it was one of the reasons the NBI would apply for a cyberwarrant—to allow investigators to conduct a “forensic” examination of several mobile phones seized from Mabanta and the others to check who else could or would be potential extortion victims.
Asked how many government officials had reached out to the NBI regarding this matter, Matibag said, “Quite a number.” He refused to disclose their positions in government. He added that there were “private personalities also.”
“After the cyber warrant, I’m sure we’ll learn a lot. There will be many personalties that will be revealed. We will see what they talked about,” he said. “And even if they had deleted stuff using other devices, we have equipment, a tool to get all those messages, videos that they may have deleted.”
Mabanta and PGMN strongly denied the allegations against him and the four others, saying that they were “set up.” Mabanta told reporters that they were “innocent.”
“How can we extort when they were the ones who came to us,” Mabanta told reporters shortly after his arrest on Tuesday night at the Valle Verde Country Club in Pasig City. He declined to give details.
Romualdez statement
Elaine Atienza, a spokesperson for Romualdez, said PGMN was “twisting the narrative” by claiming that their right to free speech is being attacked. She said the Leyte lawmaker only did what any other person would have done if forced to pay in exchange for silence.
“The issue here is not about the freedom of the press. Moreover, it is not about the right of anyone to criticize government. The real question is: Did anyone ask for money in exchange for silence?” Atienza said.
“Rep. Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez simply did what any person exposed to the same circumstance would do—he reported the matter to the proper authorities, and the NBI acted on that report pursuant to its mandate under the law,” she added.
Atienza suggested that PGMN was not a legitimate news organization. It withheld allegedly incriminating information about a public official for extortion, she said.
She said that PGMN’s “exposé” was “irrelevant” to the extortion allegation being investigated.
“If anyone believes he has evidence of wrongdoing by public officials, the proper course is simple: release it, submit it to the authorities, and let the proper institutions act on it—not use it as leverage in exchange for money,” Atienza said.
“That is what PGMN did: they purportedly produced a video that was allegedly ready to run several weeks ago and yet chose not to release it. That is NOT journalism, that is extortion […] Such conduct undermines legitimate journalism and damages public trust in genuine media institutions,” she added.
Entrapment
Matibag said agents from the NBI’s Organized and Transnational Crime Division (OTCD) posed as representatives of Romualdez and delivered three suitcases containing P75 million—the first of four tranches of the P300 million payment that both sides had agreed on. Only P50,000 was real money and the rest were bogus P1,000 bills, he said.
The agents met Mabanta around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday at The Manila Peninsula Hotel, where he instructed them to deliver the money to a certain “Jimmy” at the Country Club.
The four others arrested with Mabanta were PGMN finance officer Ericson James Pacaba, incorporator John Alexander Vasquez Gomez, and employees Jardine Christian Requio Serrano (Jimmy) and Franco Jose Gallardo.
After receiving the suitcases, Serrano and Gallardo took them to a function room where Mabanta and the others were waiting. They were then arrested.
According to the NBI, Mabanta first tried to extort money from Romualdez last year, threatening to immediately release a supposed “exposé video” purportedly linking him to corruption in the House.
Matibag said the alleged extortion effort was revived two weeks ago when Mabanta supposedly sent a teaser of the video to Romualdez, demanding P350 million, which was later lowered to P300 million.
He said that the NBI would be summoning PGMN anchor CJ Hirro as a person of interest in the case.
Matibag said that Hirro was allegedly in the video clip sent to Romualdez.
‘Breathtaking corruption’
In a statement on Wednesday, PGMN said that after five months, it had “completed immense, comprehensive, painful research on the breathtaking national corruption of Martin Romualdez while he was Speaker of the House.”
“That is why this is happening,” PGMN said in a post on its Facebook page. “There was no extortion. There were ZERO threats from us. That’s all bullshit. The ‘evidence’ provided showed one side of the story. We committed no crime: and we can prove it. Romualdez did this to silence us.”
PGMN did not say when it would show the video.
But Atienza dismissed the statement as weak defense.
“Ultimately, this case will be decided by facts, evidence, and the rule of law—not by competing narratives on social media. This is simple: In a democracy, people are free to criticize. But the law is clear: Extortion is a crime.”
‘Electric bill’ issue
This was not the first time that PGMN was called out. Last Monday, Bicol Saro Rep. Terry Ridon said he supported a call by Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III to stop the spread of fake news, saying that he filed a resolution seeking an investigation on PGMN’s alleged disinformation operation.
According to Ridon, PGMN used different electric bill accounts to justify its claims of an exorbitant rise in power cost.
While rising electricity costs are legitimate concerns, Ridon said the use of disinformation only hampers legitimate calls for government action.
The now-viral PGMN post showed a person claiming a sharp rise in her electric bill from around P700 to P7,000 in just eight months—from October 2025 to May 2026.
Ridon noted, however, that the two bills belonged to two different account numbers: P724.47 for an Oct. 6, 2025, billing for account 2209188031 and P7,009.64 for a May 7, 2026, billing for account 0494824258.
