VP Sara Duterte considering hiring private security force

Vice President Sara Duterte —File photo from the House of Representatives

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte said on Wednesday she was eyeing hiring private security to replace her current detail, which supposedly would be pulled out by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Duterte made the pronouncement after revealing that she sent a letter recently to AFP chief of staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. asking him to replace no longer the personnel to be withdrawn from her security detail.

READ: 400 AFP personnel assigned to VP Duterte’s security group – spox

“I will no longer accept replacements. So they don’t need to replace them if they pull them out. They should just leave what is left. And if nothing is left because they have already withdrawn everyone, then I already said I would seek security arrangements outside of the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” Duterte said in a mix of Filipino and English, in a press conference.

“We are exploring private security services,” she added.

Duterte also said that her husband, Manases “Mans” Reyes Carpio, might end up shouldering the expenses of hiring private security.

When asked if her plans might be construed as building a “private army,” Duterte responded in the negative. What she would hire, she said, would be professional security services that could not be considered a private army.

“And I do not know if these individuals are allowed to bring guns. So that makes them less of an army… But that is just one option we are preparing for in case the AFP pull out the entire security detail, she said.

Threats against her, family

Meanwhile, Duterte also reiterated that she did not feel secure, especially with her security personnel now in question, even claiming that the Department of Justice was “biased” in investigating the alleged threat she made against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. without even considering why she did it in the first place.

“There’s always been bias because when you see, say, for example, DOJ – they investigated the press con. They didn’t investigate why we went there to that press con. They investigated the supposed threat, but they’ve not ever investigated threats against me — which are all documented, but we don’t give it to them because we don’t trust them,” Duterte said.

All this developed after Duterte claimed in an online press conference that she had instructed someone to kill Marcos, his wife Liza, and cousin Speaker Martin Romualdez should she herself be killed.

Apart from further widening the rift between her and the president, these remarks triggered a flurry of complaints against Duterte.

The National Bureau of Investigation is already investigating Duterte’s possible grave threats under Article 282 of the Revised Penal Code in relation to Section 6 of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 (Republic Act No, 10175) and violation of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 (RA 11479).

Duterte is also facing complaints for grave coercion, direct assault, and disobedience — all of which were filed by the Philippine National Police.

She is also facing disbarment complaints before the Supreme Court.