A claim is circulating on social media that National Bureau of Investigation Director Melvin Matibag has left his post following the May 11 mayhem at the Senate involving an attempt to arrest Sen. Bato Dela Rosa. Not true. The NBI chief did not step down.
The false claim originated from a YouTube channel that published a video on May 12 with a thumbnail that bore the text:
“MATIBAG BUMITAW NA. SENADO TINAPOS SI MATIBAG SA NBI? 9-NBI AGENT NILAGLAG SI MATIBAG (MATIBAG HAD STEPPED DOWN. SENATE ENDED MATIBAG AT NBI? 9 NBI AGENTS BETRAYED MATIBAG)”
It surfaced the day after Dela Rosa appeared at the Senate for the first time since November 2025, when news came out that the International Criminal Court had issued a warrant for his arrest in connection with the crimes against humanity case in which the senator is named as a co-conspirator.
NBI agents attempted to serve the arrest warrant, which prompted Dela Rosa to run, leading to a chase on a staircase from the parking area to the session hall, where the senator eventually obtained protective custody from Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano.
Matibag continues to hold his position at the NBI. On May 21, he went to Legazpi City to lead the inauguration of the NBI Academy in the Bicol Region.
The nine NBI personnel involved in chasing Dela Rosa were cited in contempt at the Senate and have since been turned over to the NBI as the bureau conducts its own investigation into the matter. There have been no reports from authorities or from the media that they “betrayed” Matibag in any way.
The false claim gained attention anew after three other YouTube channels published their versions of the graphic from May 15 to 16 with some visual enhancements, such as adjusting saturation levels, blurring/unblurring some faces, and switching the placement of the text and pictures.
Several pro-Duterte Facebook accounts then pushed out these graphics in the same time period, a few days after gunshots rang out within the Senate premises on the evening of May 13. Dela Rosa was then still under protective custody of the Senate. The publishers on FB notably used hashtags like #ddssolidsupporters #protectvpsarah (sic) and #pilipinasduterteparin.
Four separate YouTube channels have used the false thumbnail for their videos, namely PINAS NEWS INSIDER (the original publisher), PINAS NEWS INSIGHT, KOMENTARYO PH, and KAPANIG NG MASA. Their clips have collectively gotten over 300,000 views, 16,000 likes, and 2,100 comments. VERA Files Fact Check has also flagged nine posts on FB that reposted the graphic.
