Vice President Sara Duterte alleged that the integration of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG) into the Presidential Security Command (PSC) was intended to compromise her security.
"Presuming the PSC is still a non-partisan professional organization, why is the command eerily quiet on the documented threats to the me, my family and the OVP personnel," Duterte said in a statement on Tuesday.
"The silence is then proof that the inclusion of VPSPG in the PSC is clearly to undermine my security and nothing else," she added.
The Vice President issued the statement in response to orders from Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who characterized her remarks as an "active threat" and directed the Presidential Security Command to take immediate and appropriate action.
Duterte mentioned that the VPSPG was established as a wide support and separate entity of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) through a Department of National Defense (DND) Order signed by Secretary Delfin Lorenzana in June 2022.
This move, accompanied by a corresponding AFP table of personnel and equipment, aimed to distinguish and make the Vice President's security independent.
"After I resigned from the Department of Education, the unit was unceremoniously assigned as a unit under the Presidential Security Command (PSC)," said Duterte.
Duterte noted that the Vice President's security is now managed by the Presidential Security Command (PSC), making it subject to the influence of decisions from the Office of the President.
In a virtual press briefing on November 22, Duterte confessed to hiring someone to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., House Speaker Martin Romualdez, and First Lady Liza Marcos in the event of her assassination.
