Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Mao Aplasca Suspended by Ombudsman After Armed Confrontation With NBI at Senate Compound

Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Mao Aplasca faced a six-month preventive suspension without pay ordered by the Ombudsman on May 15, 2026, days after leading a firefight with National Bureau of Investigation operatives at the Senate compound. The confrontation erupted on the evening of May 13 while Senator Ronald dela Rosa hunkered down inside the Senate to avoid arrest stemming from an ICC warrant.

NBI and Malacañang stated that OSAA and Mao Aplasca fired the first warning shot.

Around 7 pm on May 13, 2026, Mao Aplasca told reporters the Senate would be locked down and that they had five minutes to leave the building. At 7:44 pm, he led OSAA personnel, Marines, and police in a walk to the right side of the Senate building’s second floor. A firefight occurred between OSAA, Marines, police and NBI operatives at the Senate compound.

On May 15, 2026, Mao Aplasca told DZRH that the firing of a warning shot was part of the OSAA’s rules of engagement because NBI agents refused to put down their guns. Mao Aplasca stated on May 14, 2026 that the decision to round up security forces was part of implementing Senate security measures due to reports that alarmed senators.

He added that senators had received calls urging them to leave because something big was about to happen and that Senate CCTV had captured movements assessed as a threat.

Mao Aplasca spoke to the media on May 14, 2026, expressing regret over dela Rosa’s departure. “Malungkot nga po na umalis siya dito. Kasi dito, meron akong control para protektahan si Sen. Bato. Eh, sa labas, hindi ko alam kung anong mangyayari,” he said.

Ronald dela Rosa and Senator Robin Padilla exited the Senate premises in the early morning of May 14, 2026. Senator Ronald dela Rosa went live on Facebook on the evening of May 13, 2026, claiming that the NBI and police would come to arrest him. Mao Aplasca had nominated by Senator Ronald dela Rosa as Senate Sergeant-at-Arms.

Ronald dela Rosa is a PMA Class of 1986 graduate while Mao Aplasca is a PMA Class of 1987 graduate. Mao Aplasca retired in 2019 as a three-star general on August 22, 2019. He served as director of the PNP’s Aviation Security Group from 2016 to 2017, was appointed regional police chief for Calabarzon, and served as two-star director of operations and three-star deputy chief of operations at Camp Crame.

Ronald dela Rosa led the Philippine National Police at the start of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war. Mao Aplasca was designated Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives in the 18th Congress and resigned in 2021. 24% of voters.

The last party-list to secure a seat in the 2022 elections received around 236,929 votes. Mao Aplasca was appointed administrator of the Office for Transportation Security with undersecretary rank by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in 2022.

He quit the Office for Transportation Security in 2023 after a scandal involving airport security personnel. He returned as Senate Sergeant-at-Arms in 2025 when the 20th Congress opened and began his second stint as Senate Sergeant-at-Arms in May 2026.

Both newly elected Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano and dela Rosa invited Aplasca back from the Commission on Appointments, where he had served as head of security.

Aplasca told reporters he visited dela Rosa around 1 am as part of his duty, especially since the senator was his PMA classmate under protective custody inside the Senate. He said he felt sorry for dela Rosa after hearing the senator describe his situation as a sacrifice.

Mao Aplasca reported that dela Rosa and Padilla left normally from the parking area, walking and boarding a vehicle without incident.

He maintained that NBI agents should have coordinated with the Senate and stressed they remained on the Senate side of the GSIS compound. The Ombudsman’s suspension order came the same day Aplasca told a radio program that OSAA had been unable to locate CCTV footage of its own personnel’s movements during the May 13 incident.