CIDG chief: What Aplasca, team did was ‘an overkill’
It was an “overkill.”
This was how the chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) described the course of action taken by the personnel of the Senate’s Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms (Osaa) in the May 13 incident.
Thirty-nine of the 44 spent shells recovered by police investigators after the May 13 shooting at the Senate came from only three guns, all issued to the Osaa team, according to the CIDG director, Maj. Gen. Robert Alexander Morico II.
“There was an excessive amount of gunfire from the Osaa although there was no one attacking them that time … I can say that is overkill,” Morico said at a briefing at Camp Crame on Friday.
According to Morico, 26 fired cartridge cases were traced to a 9mm CZ Scorpion Evo3 S1, a semiautomatic pistol cartridge carbine (serial number G494922) registered to Osaa.
Asked who was holding that particular gun, the CIDG chief said, “We presume that the 9mm CZ Scorpion Evo, from which 26 shots were fired, was held by (now-suspended Osaa chief) Mao Aplasca.”
Before the shooting incident on the night of May 13, Aplasca asked one of the National Bureau of Investigation agents he encountered to identify his group, according to a report sent by Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla to Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano.
After the agent identified himself as “NBI,” Aplasca supposedly saw the agent raising a “long firearm,” prompting the Osaa chief to fire a “warning shot,” the report added.
NBI presence
NBI agents were at the adjacent building occupied by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) that night reportedly to help beef up its security. This was after the tensions at the Senate caused two days earlier by the bureau’s failed attempt to arrest Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa on May 11.
The senator, who is a subject of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court in relation to his role to the bloody drug war during the administration of former President Duterte, showed up at the Senate after a six-month absence to help other pro-Duterte senators mount a leadership coup in the chamber.
More than seven hours after the May 13 shooting incident, Dela Rosa left the Senate building at 2:30 a.m. the following day.
Cayetano, at a press conference on May 14, attributed the chaos during the previous night to an “attack” on the Senate, but the Philippine National Police said all evidence gathered from its initial investigation of the shooting incident showed otherwise.
Appeal to Aplasca
Aplasca was suspended by the Office of the Ombudsman for six months after he admitted to firing the first warning shot that led to an exchange of gunfire with NBI personnel in the Senate.
The CIDG had subpoenaed several Senate personnel on Tuesday as part of its investigation into the May 13 shooting incident.
“That’s why I am appealing to the Senate security to please appear and comply with our subpoena, especially Sir Mao Aplasca, to shed light [on the incident],” Morico added.
He said the Senate, through a letter, asked the CIDG for more time to comply with the subpoena as it noted that Aplasca had been suspended by the Office of the Ombudsman while Senate Secretary Mark Llandro Mendoza had resigned.
The CIDG director said four more fired cartridge cases were traced to another 9mm CZ Scorpion Evo, with serial number G494924, supposedly held by Osaa personnel Joemil Ledesma.
Nine other fired cartridge cases came from a .40-caliber S&W Jerico 941PL IWI pistol (serial number 48247560), reportedly held by Osaa personnel Charlie Montilla, according to Morico.
‘Without provocation’
Meanwhile, the remaining five fired gun cartridge cases came from a 5.56-caliber rifle held by NBI agent Darwin Francisco.
All four firearms underwent ballistic examinations, Morico said.
In all, investigators recovered 36 fired cartridge cases inside the Senate building while eight cartridge cases were found outside, he added.
The CIDG has recommended the filing of complaints against Aplasca, Ledesma and Montilla for firing their guns “without provocation” on May 13.
******
Get real-time news updates: inqnews.net/inqviber
