Duterte ally named new NBI director
President Marcos has appointed lawyer Melvin Matibag, a known ally of former President Rodrigo Duterte, as the new director of the National Bureau of Investigation, Palace press officer Claire Castro announced on Thursday.
Matibag, who was Duterte’s Cabinet secretary and previously secretary general of the former president’s political party Partido ng Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), will replace acting NBI Director Angelito Magno.
Castro did not provide a reason for the change in leadership at the NBI or when Matibag will officially take office.
“That trust is there. He saw Matibag as someone who could be trusted, who could work for the Filipino people, but what the real reason was, he hasn’t told me in detail yet,” she said in Filipino at a press briefing.
Matibag also served as chief executive officer of the National Transmission Corp. during the Duterte administration and was general manager of the Manila International Airport Authority prior to this.
Matibag was part of the PDP-Laban faction under former Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, who feuded with former Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel’s wing.
In 2022, Cusi’s side endorsed the candidacy of the eventual winners, President Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte, while Pimentel’s faction supported former Sen. Manny Pacquiao’s bid.
The party, in its resolution, said Mr. Marcos was the candidate whose “platform is most aligned with the development program of President Duterte” and “received the most endorsements from the local councils of the party.”
Party politics
In May 2021, Matibag was appointed acting secretary general of the party when the National Council met in Cebu City, with Cusi presiding as authorized by Duterte.
Meanwhile, the National Executive Committee of the party’s other faction, led by Pimentel and Pacquiao, expelled Matibag and Cusi.
The Cusi-led PDP-Laban group then submitted its new set of officers to the Commission on Elections in August 2021, with Matibag named as secretary general.
In October 2023, Matibag confirmed his decision to quit his PDP-Laban post but did not disclose why he was leaving.
PDP-Laban, the party chaired by the elder Duterte, was rebranded as Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP) in 2024.
In March 2022, Duterte appointed Matibag as his acting Cabinet secretary, replacing Karlo Nograles, and held this post until the end of the Duterte administration.
President Marcos eventually abolished the Office of the Cabinet Secretary on June 30, 2022.
Disbarment case vs Roque
Although an ally of Duterte, Matibag later became critical of personalities associated with the former president.
In September 2024, Matibag filed an administrative case to disbar former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.
Matibag declined to discuss the details of the case he filed against Roque, citing the sub judice rule, which restricts comments and disclosures related to pending judicial proceedings.
But he pointed to Roque’s social media posts on a viral “deepfake” video supposedly showing President Marcos snorting a white powdery substance as among his reasons for suing his former co-worker in government.
Matibag had also criticized Roque for his links with Philippine offshore gaming operators in Porac, Pampanga, and Sun Liming, a transnational fugitive from China who was arrested in his house in Baguio.
No Sara fan
He has also written commentaries about what he called “the penchant of Vice President Sara Duterte for confidential funds and her allergy to accountability.”
In his column “Power Dynamics” that appeared in another newspaper on Sept. 12, 2024, Matibag wrote: “When Sara Duterte didn’t get the positions she wanted to control, she acted like the spoiled brat that she is. She announced to the public that she preferred the national defense portfolio, but she didn’t get it. She wanted her preferred candidate as Speaker of the House, she didn’t get it. So she went on a rampage—cyberbullying, name-calling and, now, announcing to all that she regretted asking people to vote for President Marcos Jr.”
“This is because Inday Sara is a real Bratinella. She is used to getting what she wants. For the six years of her father’s incumbency she was spoiled with confidential funds as mayor of Davao. While her father, in his last year as mayor of Davao, got only P130 million in confidential funds, Sara was averaging P450 million during the pandemic years,” Matibag continued.
In October 2021, Matibag was also kicked out of a Senate hearing after calling the deliberations on allegations of irregularities in the Department of Energy, then headed by Cusi, “political.” —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH
