Sara told: Don’t politicize recall of police escorts

AN administration lawmaker yesterday told Vice President Sara Duterte to stop politicizing the PNP’s order recalling 75 of her police escorts just to divert public attention from her move last week to leave the country while it was being battered by typhoon “Carina.”

Manila Rep. Joel Chua said Duterte, who was reported to have as many as 433 security escorts back in 2021, knows very well that not all of her police escorts were recalled by the PNP leadership, which she earlier accused of “political harassment.”

Chua dismissed the Vice President’s claim, saying the second highest elected official of the land could very well be trying to divert public attention away from her absence at a critical time when the public badly needed her.

“On the contrary, I don’t see a political motive on the part of the PNP. She could be trying to divert the issue because if you’ll recall, she spoke about this when the issue about her flight to Germany at the peak of the typhoon came out),” Chua told a press conference.

Duterte drew flak after she and her family flew to Germany last week while Carina was causing massive floods in Metro Manila and other areas.

In a lengthy open letter last Monday, Duterte lambasted PNP chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil, saying the relief of her security escorts “was obviously a targeted list and a targeted maneuver — nothing else.”

The Vice President also accused Marbil of endangering the lives of her family, reminding him that a video of her and her family was leaked on social media while they were waiting for a flight to Germany, which she said was proof of a security breach.

She said last week that 75 policemen from the “PNP Police and Security Group” assigned to her were relieved and ordered to report to the PNP-National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) but Marbil said the Vice President still has 31 police officers assigned to her as security escorts.

Chua said the Vice President has to respect the PNP’s decision because there is really a shortage in the number of police officers in the country, the reason the 75 security escorts were recalled and deployed to other assignments.

“She still has 31 security escorts detailed to her. We can