Cayetano Siblings to Return to PH Amid SEA Games Probe, NBI Says

MANILA, Philippines — National Bureau of Investigation Director Melvin Matibag said on Friday he received information that Sens. Alan Peter Cayetano and Pia Cayetano, who were reported earlier to have left the country this week, will return this weekend. The siblings were reportedly spotted boarding a flight bound for Singapore and arriving at Changi Airport on Wednesday evening. After attending a hearing on Friday by the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs regarding the domestic steel industry, Matibag told reporters “I have information that they will be coming back maybe tomorrow at 11 p.m., or Sunday at 11 p.m., SQ-918 [flight].” READ: Pia Cayetano in Singapore: I’m supporting PH national team The NBI director said he sees nothing wrong with the senators’ foreign trip. But he also noted the “timing” of their flights, which occurred amid the NBI’s investigation into supposed irregularities in the hosting of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games by the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc). “If it’s just a vacation, there’s no problem. But of course, the timing, we can’t eliminate the possibility of people having some comments,” Matibag said. As former chairperson of Phisgoc, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano has been the subject of a probe on the 2019 SEA Games. On Monday, Matibag said the senator may be included as a respondent in the charges the NBI will recommend to the Department of Justice as the bureau finalizes its investigation. “He [Cayetano] introduced himself as the chairman. So it’s an ultra vires (‘beyond the powers’) act,” Matibag said earlier. Matibag also reiterated that there is a possible “double entry” of payment to the “cauldron” at New Clark City in Tarlac that was used in the SEA Games. /das