‘New personnel to ensure her safety’

Members of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG) will be temporarily replaced with new military and police personnel, Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said.

Brawner said this was triggered by a subpoena issued by the Philippine National Police against several members of Vice President Sara Duterte’s security detail.

“The reason why we are doing this is because VPSPG members will be investigated. Because they have a subpoena, it means to say they (security detail) cannot fulfill their duty to protect and secure the Vice President. That is why we are temporarily pulling them out and replacing them,” the military chief said.

Duterte, however, immediately rejected the idea, saying under no circumstances will she accept the new personnel to be assigned to the VPSPG.

“I have friends who will arrange for my security in case we will have a problem with the AFP, in particular the Presidential Security Command,” she said in a press conference yesterday.

The Vice President, who earlier lamented that threats against her life were not being taken seriously, questioned the heightened security measures for her.

Brawner, however, underscored the need to ensure Duterte’s security.

“If something happens to the Vice President, this can trigger chaos because of her own statement that if something happens to her, she will take action against the President, the First Lady and the House Speaker,” the AFP chief said.

Duterte, in a profanity-laced press conference, said she contracted someone to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and Speaker Martin Romualdez should she be killed.

The VPSPG currently has around 350 members.

Meanwhile, some 65 Davao police officers were reassigned to various regions in Luzon due to a series of special orders from the PNP headquarters.

Davao Police spokesperson Maj. Catherine Dela Rey said this was part of the regular assignment and reassignment process within the ranks of the PNP.

“These names (of reassigned cops) are familiar to you – these are the ones under investigation, the ones where police operations took place where someone died, and then those station commanders who had double blotters, as well as other key personnel who were under investigation or have cases,” Dela Rey said.

The directive took effect on November 25.

Those covered by the transfer order were sent to four regions in Luzon, in particular to Tuguegarao, Mimaropa, Bicol and the Cordillera Administrative Region.