Aplasca files counter-affidavit to direct assault complaint over Senate shooting
Senate security is on heightened alert amid reports of the imminent service of an arrest warrant against Senator Bato dela Rosa on May 13, 2026. Then Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Mao Aplasca insisted that no arrest can be implemented without an order from a local court and an instruction from Senate President Alan Cayetano. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN NewsMANILA — Former Senate sergeant-at-arms Mao Aplasca on Wednesday submitted his counter-affidavit before government prosecutors at the Department of Justice in connection with the direct assault complaint he is facing for the May 13 Senate shooting incident.
Aplasca refused to give a statement to the media after attending the preliminary investigation.
DOJ spokesperson Atty. Polo Martinez said that following Aplasca’s submission of counter-affidavit, complainant Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group has until November 6 to file its reply affidavit.
If a reply affidavit is submitted by the PNP-CIDG, Aplasca will then be given until November 13 to file his rejoinder affidavit.
“And then the prosecutors will determine kung may prima facie evidence to file the case in court,” Martinez said.
Martinez said agents of the National Bureau of Investigation would serve as witnesses.
Martinez said it is up to the appreciation of facts by the handling prosecutors if Aplasca and his two co-respondents will be held liable.
“Depende na po iyan sa facts, sa appreciation ng mga piskal natin, ng mga prosecutors and if iyong facts na iyon, they satisfy the elements of the crime of direct assault,” Martinez said.
The May 13 gunfire involved the the Senate’s Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms (OSAA) and NBI agents, who were stationed near the Senate-GSIS complex during the incident.
Aplasca previously argued that he fired a “warning shot” due to the threat posed by unidentified armed individuals, saying he acted within the Senate Rules of Engagement for Threat Situations.
But the Ombudsman noted that before Aplasca’s warning shot, the NBI agents had identified themselves and were just positioned along a hallway leading to the GSIS premises.
It also rejected the Aplasca’s claim that the incident was a “continuation of the confrontation” involving Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, who is facing an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court due to his supposed involvement in the previous administration’s war on drugs.
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