NBI

NBI Director Melvin Matibag says the bureau will pull COA, SEC, and BIR records on the body that organized the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, whose total budget — including private-sector money — may top ₱10 billion, with Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano potentially facing a subpoena over his undisclosed role on its board.

NBI Director Melvin Matibag told the Senate impeachment court that investigators have identified fewer than 20 "persons of interest" — including active-duty uniformed personnel and a member of Vice President Sara Duterte's security group — but declined to name them, citing an "open and ongoing" investigation.

The Department of Justice has issued subpoenas to the Senate Secretariat and the PNP Firearms and Explosives Office as part of an obstruction investigation tied to the failed attempt to serve the ICC arrest warrant on fugitive Senator Ronald dela Rosa — while the NBI warns more international warrants are imminent against other drug war perpetrators.

With the Supreme Court refusing to block the ICC arrest warrant and the DOJ declaring Dela Rosa a fugitive, the Philippine National Police mobilized specialized tracker units on May 22 to hunt down the senator — who confirmed intelligence shows is still inside the country.

NBI Director Matibag has named Sen. Robin Padilla as a "person of interest" in relation to the whereabouts of Sen. Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa, as PNP Chief Nartatez denies allegations that Bato's PMA classmates helped him slip away from the Senate.

NBI Director Melvin Matibag defended the presence of his agents at the GSIS, saying their deployment there was requested by the GSIS itself and was not a decision he made on his own.

Sen. Pia Cayetano publicly called out NBI Director Melvin Matibag after it emerged that NBI agents were stationed at the GSIS at the very time he claimed to have no available personnel for the Senate.

The ICC warrant against Senator Bato dela Rosa exists, is authentic, and covers crimes the ICC has jurisdiction over. But whether it can be executed in the Philippines without a Philippine court's verification first is a constitutional question the Supreme Court has never ruled on — and the answer affects every Filipino, not just Duterte allies.

Article III of the Constitution is clear: no arrest warrant except from a Philippine court with probable cause. But when the executive acts immediately and the Supreme Court can't catch up in time, what's written has no meaning. This is the deeper question in the chase for Bato — and what every Filipino should worry about, not just Duterte allies.

The NBI arrested PGMN founder Franco Mabanta for an alleged ₱350-million extortion plot against former House Speaker Martin Romualdez — but too many questions remain unanswered. Timing, connections, and a buried exposé: who really had something to hide?