COA Releases Report on Vice Pres. Sara Duterte’s Security Personnel, Staff
SARA DUTERTE’S SECURITY PERSONNEL – The Commission on Audit (COA) stated that the staff of the Vice President is composed of 780 people.
The Filipino people have witnessed the souring relationship between Pres. Bongbong Marcos and Vice Pres. Duterte in 2024 after she stepped down from being the secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd). She also left the Marcos Jr. Cabinet.
Then, amid her tirades against the Marcos Jr. administration, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte claimed she plans to hire a private security as she allegedly no longer feels secured. She claimed that there’s supposedly a threat to her life.
The Vice President admitted that she considers to hire a private security if the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will pull out her security detail. Then, she claimed that she told the chief of the AFP that she will not accept replacements.
“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… I do not feel secure. As I said, there’s always been bias,” the Vice President claimed.
Vice Pres. Sara Duterte previously claimed that her husband, Atty. Manases Carpio, an arrange the private security for her. According to her, the fund for the salaries of the private security won’t be a problem.
Recently, the Commission on Audit stated in its report details about Vice Pres. Sara Duterte’s security personnel. Based on a report on Inquirer, COA stated that the Vice President maintains a total of 335 security personnel under the government’s payroll.
The Commission stressed that the current count of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte’s security personnel is fewer compared to the personnel under the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group or VPSPG in 2022. Then, the VPSPG was composed of 433 security details.
Based on the report, with regards to the total count of her staff, the Vice President has 780 people — almost half of it is composed of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte’s security personnel. Some of them sometimes accompany her in her overseas trips as per COA.
Among the 780 staff of Vice Pres. Duterte are 99 coterminous, 63 permanent employees, 34 contractual employees, 240 under contracts of service, two (2) presidential appointees, three (3) protocol officers from the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs), and four (4) consultants.
Previously, the total spending of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte for her security during her international travels for the first 7 months of the year was revealed.