Personnel from the Office of the Ombudsman went to the Senate on Monday, May 18, to officially serve a preventive suspension order against Acting Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Mao Aplasca and a subpoena demanding the surrender of security footage, Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano confirmed.
The legal actions stem from an ongoing inquiry into a shooting incident that occurred inside the Senate premises on May 13. Clavano stated that despite earlier logistical hurdles, the Senate Secretariat has officially acknowledged and accepted both directives.
“Ombudsman personnel were in Senate to attempt to serve the Order of Preventive Suspension of Acting SAA Aplasca as well as the subpoena for the CCTV footage,” Clavano said.
“We got the confirmation that both were received by the Senate Secretariat,” he added.
The successful delivery of the documents follows a statement from Ombudsman Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla, who noted that process servers initially faced difficulties executing the subpoena at the legislative building, despite having given prior notice to Senate staff.
The scope of the investigation heavily relies on the closed-circuit television (CCTV) recordings of the May 13 incident.
Additionally, the inquiry targets documents concerning Aplasca, who has been placed under a six-month preventive suspension without pay while the oversight body attempts to establish the exact circumstances surrounding the gunfire inside the government facility.