Solon hits VP over security recall

A lawmaker on Monday blasted Vice President Sara Duterte over the statements she made following the recall of her 75-member police security detail, saying that it was nothing but “theatrics” to hide the fact that she had more bodyguards than all former Vice Presidents combined.

San Jose del Monte Representative Rida Robes stressed that the Vice President’s statement against the Philippine National Police (PNP) for reducing her security detail has “muddled the issue.”

“The truth is her security contingent dwarfs the number of policemen assigned to cities. The Commission on Audit  (CoA) says so in its latter report,” said Robes.

In the CoA’s 2022 annual audit report on the Office of the Vice President, about 433 security personnel were deployed only for Duterte, an increase of 455-percent from her predecessor’s security detail.

“What is also undeniable is that she has number of bodyguards more than all previous VPs of the land combined,” Robes said. “Some VPs had a protective detail that can fit in van. Hers would need three Airbus planes filled to the rafters.”

Robes also questioned why the Vice President continues to insist on having a “layer and layer of security blanket, to move around surrounded by a phalanx of guards.”

“Volume is what distinguishes a protective detail from a private army, and her insistence to have a battalion of guards betrays her real motive,” the lawmaker said.