A false claim circulating on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram alleges that National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director Melvin Matibag lost his license after the May 13 gun shooting incident at the Senate. This is fake.
The untrue posts, published from May 21 to 22, featured images of Matibag, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano and Supreme Court spokesperson Camille Ting, and text that read:
“Tanggal ang lisensya? NBI Matibag nasampolan ng Senado (License taken away? NBI’s Matibag gets punished by the Senate).”
An accompanying caption described Matibag as having “failed” to protect the Senate when gun shots rang inside the building last month. Cayetano himself allegedly made Matibag “come face to face with the law.”
Matibag, a licensed Philippine lawyer, has not lost his license. Only the Supreme Court has the power to disbar lawyers.
His name is still listed in the e-Roll of Attorneys maintained by the SC.
The post surfaced nearly a week after Cayetano called on the Office of the Ombudsman to suspend Matibag. Cayetano also criticized the NBI chief for allegedly feeding the president with lies.
The post published by a Facebook user with 114,000 followers has garnered 1,929 reactions, 734 comments, and 95 shares. A version of the post has also circulated on Instagram and YouTube, where it has so far gotten over 315 likes, 17 comments, and over 1,300 remixes. Remix is a feature on YouTube that lets others repurpose the video to create new content.
