The key of the , Philippine National Police , on Tuesday confirmed the removal of officers officials from the safety aspect of Vice President , Sara Duterte, saying they were transferred to beef up road guards particularly in Metro Manila.
Duterte claimed earlier that the PNP had issued a” Notice of Relief” to 75 employees working for the Office of the Vice President ( OVP ).
” I want to assure the public that]the PNP ] order will not affect my work in the Office of the Vice President”, Duterte said. Our efforts will continue to be able to provide the services to our own Filipinos, particularly in the underserved and rural areas of the nation.
Study: Sara prefers Bohol over watching Marcos ‘ Sona
” I do hope, however, that with this latest order of the Chief PNP, we hear less shouts from the persons regarding the development of medicines in the country, and that even fewer may fall prey to several legal activities”, she said.
Morning after Sona lack
The decline of the Vice President’s safety power came to light a moment after President , Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivered his second State of the Nation Address, which Duterte did not attend.
Her presence at the event, plus her earlier claim that she had appointed herself “designated victim” on Sona evening, a slang term that Marcos ‘ congressional allies did not find amusing, were seen as the latest deterioration in relationships between her and Marcos, who chose her as his running mate in the 2022 national election.
In a chance meeting with investigators, PNP key Gen.  , Rommel Francisco Marbil , confirmed the handover of police staff from the OVP but maintained that Duterte’s department was not being singled out.
The , PNP’s Police Security Protection Group , ( PSPG) coordinated with the chief of staff of Duterte for the transfer, he said.
” We did n’t relieve them. Because we require them in the NCR ( National Capital Region ), we asked them if we could move them, he said.
Nobody may replace our police officers because they are already tired and lonely and working beyond their shift, he said.
Generally PSC’s career
Marbil further explained that the Presidential Security Command ( PSC), a military unit, is primarily responsible for securing the Vice President, and that the PNP is only there to supplement.
The Presidential Security Command, never the PSPG, is responsible for the vice president’s protection, according to the statement. We are simply complementing them”, he said.
According to the latest attainable report, a 2022 review of the , Commission on Audit on the OVP, Duterte had a total of 433 safety girls.
Soon after she assumed office in 2022, the , Armed Forces of the Philippines , created a fresh unit—the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG) —just for the OVP.
The VPSPG remained under PSC’s control.
The removal of the PNP component from Duterte’s security force also came just over a month after she resigned as secretary of the , Department of Education , ( DepEd ) and five days after she formally turned over the position to Sen. Sonny Angara.
An official who had repeatedly cited national security and intelligence meeting as her main concerns had a sudden gap in the protection construction due to this.
In , November 2023, Duterte dropped her ask for , Congress , to offer her another redistribution of personal and intelligence resources in the regional budget—totaling P650 million for both the OVP and the DepEd—as she conceded that the matter had become “divisive”.
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