Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV. (File photo by CATHY MIRANDA / INQUIRER.net)
Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV said on Sunday that he didn’t mind having a smaller security detail, saying that he never complained about it.
“Just to be clear: I never complained about the pullout of my government security detail. I can always adjust to the situation,” Trillanes said in a statement. “It was merely raised as a public concern in social media and I was asked by the media to confirm the matter.”
On Saturday, Trillanes asked the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to reconsider their decision to recall two his bodyguards.
READ: Trillanes asks AFP, PNP to rethink security escorts’ recall
In an earlier statement, PNP said that the Police Security and Protection Group (PSPG) was doing a comprehensive review of all security personnel to prevent the use of police officers in politics, especially with less than a year before the 2019 midterm elections.
Meanwhile, Director General Oscar Albayalde, PNP chief, has ordered PSPG to provide the senator with two security personnel while the review was still ongoing.
The PNP clarified that the measure did not specifically target Trillanes, a staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that some of the security personnel were withdrawn to allow the PNP to use the policemen for crime-fighting.
Senior Supt. Benigno Durana, PNP spokesperson, said that even without PNP personnel, the lawmaker still had six bodyguards — two from the Special Detail Unit of the AFP, two from Philippine Navy, and two more from the Senate Security Bureau.
READ: PNP: Trillanes still has 6 bodyguards after 2 cops were removed
But according to Trillanes, the statements of Durana and Roque were inaccurate.
“First, both the PNP and AFP security detail have been pulled out effective end of June,” he said. “My letters for reconsideration addressed to both the PNP and AFP are still pending.”
“Second, I never had a security detail provided by the Senate,” he added. “In view of these, therefore, the statements of Secretary Roque and the PNP spokesman are inaccurate.” /atm