Vice President Sara Duterte defended the report of the Commission on Audit (COA) that her office has deployed 433 security personnel in 2022.
Duterte said in a statement that despite the findings, COA made no adverse findings in its 2022 audit report.
The OVP said that the number of personnel deployed by the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG) depends on the assessment of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police.
“Comparisons between Vice President Sara Duterte and the security personnel of former Vice Presidents are absurd and completely lacking basis,” the OVP said.
“The Commission on Audit found no adverse findings on the creation of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group. The VPSPG will wholly provide all future Philippine Vice Presidents with necessary security and protection, a fundamental task that it will inevitably perform even when the Vice President and the President face the misfortune of having a relationship strained or broken by political differences—a troubling situation we have seen during the past administration,” the statement added.
Duterte’s office also justified the number of security personnel for her due to her other titles including Secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd), Co-Vice Chairperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), and President of the Southeast Asia Ministers of Education Organization.
“The OVP remains grateful to the AFP and PNP for supporting the VPSPG and OVP,” the agency said.
