The withdrawal of police officers from the protective security duties of several individuals, including some government officials, is aimed at rationalizing their deployment in security operations, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Tuesday.
Vice President Sara Duterte calls withdrawal of police security 'political intimidation'
PNP Chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil made the clarification after Vice President Sara Duterte confirmed that 75 personnel of the PNP Police and Security and Protection Group (PSPG) assigned to her had already been relieved.
Marbil said that prior to the withdrawal of the police officers providing security, there had been previous coordination with the Office of the Vice President (OVP).
“We talked to them. Our PSPG talked to our VP’s chief of staff because they already have so many people there. We asked them na pwede namin ilipat (and) nilipat namin na kailangan na kailangan sa NCR [National Capital Region] (We asked them if we could transfer our personnel and we transferred them because we really need them in the NCR,” he said after a press conference held at the National Bureau of Investigation in Quezon City.
