MANILA – Office of the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms (OSAA) acting chief Mao Aplasca on Friday explained his move to fire a warning shot during the May 13 gunfire incident inside the building in Pasay City.
Aplasca admitted that he fired the warning shot after seeing armed individuals, who he later said were National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) personnel, within Senate jurisdiction.
“Ang warning shot po, ginagawa po namin pag mayroon po kaming na-perceive na danger sa buhay ng ating mga kapulisan (We use warning shots when we perceive danger to the lives of our policemen),” Aplasca said.
He said OSAA personnel first challenged the armed individuals, asked them to identify themselves and ordered them to lower their firearms, but they did not do so.
“Ako po ang nagpaputok ng warning shot. Ang protocol po namin kung may makita po kaming danger, i-challenge po namin sila kung sino po sila, ‘yung identity nila (I was the one who fired the warning shot. Our protocol is that if we see danger, we challenge them to identify themselves),” he said.
He said the NBI failed to coordinate with them prior to the operation.
Aplasca said he fired only once, adding that based on his experience, a warning shot should not be repeated.
When asked why media personnel and other civilians were not fully cleared from the area before the confrontation, Aplasca said clearing the area would have been proper but maintained that OSAA had limited time to act.
“Tama po kayo, na sinasabi mo na dapat i-bucket. Pero there’s no perfect situation. Kulang po ang oras namin para gawin po ‘yun (You are right, that the area should have been cleared. But there is no perfect situation. We lacked time to do that),” he said.
Aplasca said OSAA is still reviewing closed-curcuit television footage and other materials to establish the sequence of events.
Aplasca, a retired police major general, previously served as Senate Sergeant-at-Arms from July 2025 to February 2026 and was earlier Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives in 2020-2021.
He also held senior PNP posts, including Director for Operations, Calabarzon Region director, and Aviation Security Group director. (PNA)
