Matibag: Senate turmoil a ploy for ‘chaos,’ then ‘tipping point’
National Bureau of Investigation Director Atty. Melvin Matibag. INQUIRER PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
Recent political developments are meant to create chaos that could serve as a “tipping point” leading to the ouster of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the takeover of Vice President Sara Duterte, National Bureau of Investigation Director Melvin Matibag said on Friday.
“For me, personally, I think they are looking for the tipping point,” Matibag said in a roundtable discussion with Inquirer editors and reporters on Friday.
READ: Cayetano dares Matibag to attend blue ribbon hearing
“I have been studying that angle for a while. The series of events that happened, including the Senate turmoil, that is the direction. And we have an intelligence report also on that,” he added.
Matibag, a former political party official before his appointment to the NBI last April, was referring to a series of incidents at the Senate over the past weeks.
These include the shooting incident on May 11, the escape of Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa on May 14, and the appearance of 18 individuals claiming to be former Marines at a blue ribbon committee hearing led by the bloc of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano on Thursday.
When asked to clarify what he meant by “tipping point,” the NBI chief said: “To cause chaos.”
Destabilzation plot
“Destabilization trying to amass support from the people to oust the President, so Sara can be in power,” Matibag further explained.
“That’s what happens naturally. When the president is gone, it’s always the vice president who will take over,” he said.
The NBI chief was a former stalwart of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP)-Laban, where he served as secretary-general until 2023.
PDP-Laban was founded in 1983 by Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr. and Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., and later carried then Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte as its standard bearer in the 2016 presidential election.
Different testimonies
Matibag, meanwhile, said there was a huge difference between the testimonies made by the alleged ex-Marines before the Cayetano-led blue ribbon panel and their sworn statements from their one-on-one questioning with the NBI last March.
On Thursday, the 18 individuals, who claimed to be bagmen of former Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co, showed up at the Senate to testify in the probe into alleged flood control corruption.
During the hearing, one of the witnesses, Belnard Tube, claimed that he saw the President, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, their son Rep. Sandro Marcos, and the President’s cousin, former Speaker Martin Romualdez, when he made a delivery in Paoay, Ilocos Norte, in 2022 with Co.
In the Inquirer roundtable, Matibag said there were around 100 ex-Marines who were recruited but only 18 showed up.
He also reiterated they received information that former congressman Mike Defensor bribed each of the ex-Marines with P5 million to testify.
He, however, said they were still clarifying whether the leads were credible.
Defensor earlier described the allegations against him as “nonsense” that were being used to discredit their witnesses.
