‘Confusing,’ Veep says of security shake-up

Vice President Sara Duterte —Niño Jesus Orbeta

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday said the sudden change in her security detail left her confused, noting the lack of any planning made known to her either by the military or the police.

At a press conference in Zamboanga City, Duterte said she would decline from making any further comment for now regarding the major shake-up of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG).

She said she would like to see first the final arrangements to be made by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police.

“I’d like to hold [my] comment on that because from what I observed, they keep changing their minds and lines about the matter,” Duterte told reporters.

READ: Brawner: It’s not true that I will take over VP Duterte’s security group

“The AFP would say it will be the PNP [who will take charge of my security], then you have the police saying otherwise. They are not good at planning, which is why it’s confusing.”

“My advice to them: Sit down, plan everything before making any statements about it so no one will catch you lying.”

She maintained that the threats to her life—a matter she first mentioned during the hot-tempered online press conference she called in the wee hours of Nov. 23—were “very serious.”

It was in the context of revealing this supposed threat that she also disclosed having hired a hit man to have President Marcos, first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and Speaker Martin Romualdez killed in case the plot against her succeeds.

Citing a “diametric contrast,” she noted that while the threats to her life was being ignored by the authorities—“baliwala”—her statements about the Marcoses and Romualdez were quickly considered a “national security concern.”

Will ask NBI to reset

On Tuesday, the National Bureau of Investigation issued a subpoena asking Duterte to appear on Nov. 29 and shed light on her open threat to the first couple and the House leader.

The NBI said she was being investigated for “alleged grave threats” in relation to the anticybercrime law and for “possible violation” of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Reacting to the subpoena, Duterte also said her lawyers would ask the NBI to reschedule her date of appearance, citing a “conflict in schedule” with the ongoing hearing of the House committee on good government and public accountability.

As to the alleged crimes for which she was called, Duterte said the Marcos administration may now be using the antiterror law in a bid to freeze and seize her assets.

She said the same law was applied to expelled Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr., who faces extradition from Timor-Leste as the prime suspect in the murder of a political rival in 2023.

The law might also be invoked to have her passport canceled, place her on an Interpol “red notice,” and have search warrants issued “left and right” so that the government can raid her properties, she added.

“This is clearly oppression and harassment. For the remarks [against the President] and to take it out of its logical context,” Duterte said, stressing that being a lawyer herself she knows “what is legal and illegal.”

“I know what is actionable and not actionable. It is not actionable to leave a word on someone. It’s not,” Duterte said, referring to her statement about hiring a killer.

“There’s no active threat there unless I die. There is nothing wrong [with what I said], nothing illegal there.”