VP Duterte now mulls hiring ‘private security’

MEDIA LUNCH Vice President Sara Duterte mingles with photographers and TV crews during the thanksgiving lunch held at her Mandaluyong City office on Wednesday, the day she was also supposed to appear at the National Bureau of Investigation. —Grig C. Montegrande

MANILA, Philippines — Saying she has lost trust in the entire government, Vice President Sara Duterte is considering hiring a private security agency for her personal protection.

If that plan materializes, that could mean hiring some 440 bodyguards for just one VIP, if she were to match the number assigned to her before her rift with President Marcos deteriorated and fully played out in public.

Duterte on Wednesday also disclosed that she had sent a letter to Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. where she “laid down several requests” regarding the status of her current security team that she said may be reduced or pulled out soon.

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“First of all, I told [Brawner] that I will not accept replacements to my old security personnel and just leave whoever will be left with me,” she told reporters in a briefing at her Mandaluyong City office, where she also held a thanksgiving lunch for journalists covering the Office of the Vice President.

“If no security personnel will be left with me since they will be pulled out, then we will seek security arrangements outside the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP),” she said.

“We are exploring [tapping] private security services,” when asked what would be her options.

‘Not a private army’

But she quickly qualified that it would not be tantamount to having her own private army, saying only “professional security services” would be considered.

“So it’s not considered as a private army and I do not know if these individuals are allowed to bring guns. So that makes them less of being an army,” Duterte stressed.

“That is one option that we are preparing in case there is a pullout of the entire security detail from the Armed Forces of the Philippines.”

The AFP announced last month that several members of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG), the composite unit guarding Duterte which is under AFP supervision, would be replaced with a new set of soldiers and policemen.

It was an offshoot of her Nov. 23 online press conference where she said she had spoken to someone to have President Marcos, his wife Liza, and Speaker Martin Romualdez killed in case an alleged plot to killer her succeed.

Husband can arrange

Duterte then expressed disapproval of the planned revamp of the VPSPG, saying she didn’t want any of her original personnel to be replaced.

On Wednesday, she said her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, could “make arrangements” for the private security and that having budget for it should not be a problem.

She again claimed that threats to her security continued to be ignored by the government.

“I do not feel secure,” she lamented. “As I said, there’s always been bias because when you see, for example, the DOJ (Department of Justice). They are currently investigating (the threats she made in the) press conference but they are not even investigating why we got there in the first place.”

No-show at NBI

Also on Wednesday, Duterte made true her earlier announcement that she would again skip the hearing at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which had summoned her about threats against the First Couple and the Speaker.

The bureau is investigating her Vice President for possible criminal offenses, mainly grave possible and violations of the cybercrime and antiterrorism laws.

Citing her nonappearance for the second time, NBI Director Jaime Santiago said there would be no more third setting and the bureau would just base its report on the letter sent by her lawyer, among other pieces of evidence gathered.

“You all saw how we’ve accommodated our Vice President. We gave her all the chances, but she did not want [to appear], and we cannot do anything about that,” Santiago said in a press briefing.

“Perhaps by early January, we will submit our recommendation, our report to the Department of Justice,” he added.

‘When we need’

But until then, Duterte could still submit a counteraffidavit, which “would be better” since it will be in her own words and not of her lawyers’, he said.

The Vice President’s absence would also make it harder for the NBI to investigate the alleged threats on her own life, the official said.

“We do not have concrete evidence. She is the one who was threatened, so she would know who threatened her. Do we have proof? That is what we need from the Vice President.”