OVP has 335 guards still on payroll – COA

MANILA, Philippines—Despite earlier statements that she will avail herself of private services for her security, Vice President Sara Duterte currently maintains a total of 335 security personnel from the government, some of whom also accompany her on trips abroad, according to a report by the Commission on Audit (COA) on the agency’s spending in 2024.

The COA noted, however, that her security detail last year was considerably fewer than the 433 personnel who made up the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG) in 2022, the start of her term. Duterte added 10 more escorts the next year.

The vice president on Monday flew to The Hague to again check on her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, who on Nov. 28 lost his appeal to be temporarily released from detention at the International Criminal Court.

READ: Sara Duterte visits father in The Hague: ‘We talked about politics’

Motor vehicles

Apart from the payroll for her security personnel, the Office of the Vice President (OVP) also spent P5.020 million in “donations” of motor vehicles to the VPSPG.

The OVP also donated vehicles to two elementary schools, but these were later found to be “unserviceable,” the COA said.

Earlier on Monday, the COA also cited its annual report that the OVP last year spent P3.4 million for its livelihood assistance program “Mag Negosyo ‘Ta Day.”

State auditors said that although program beneficiaries were found eligible, the OVP did not conduct a thorough feasibility or economic-viability study of their proposed projects.

Half of staff

A count of Duterte’s security personnel shows that they accounted for about half of her staff in the OVP.

The vice president currently has 780 people on her staff, including 99 coterminous, 63 permanent, and 34 contractual employees; 240 under contracts of service; two presidential appointees; four consultants; and three protocol officers from the Department of Foreign Affairs.

In December last year, Duterte said she was considering hiring private security now that she “does not trust” the government.

Her critics, including Palace press officer Claire Castro, also questioned the Vice President’s frequent travels, including the 18 times she left the country this year. But most of these travels were to The Hague. /cb/abc