The Office of the Vice President (OVP) on Sunday debunked the Commission on Audit's (COA) audit report that Vice President Sara Duterte had a total of 433 security personnel deployed during her first year in office.
"The Commission on Audit found no adverse findings on the creation of the Vice President Security and Protection Group [VPSPG]," the OVP said in a statement.
It then showcased a table that summarizes the number of VPSPG personnel deployed during Duterte's engagements in her local trips in the National Capital Region (NCR), Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and foreign trips.
Based on the table, Duterte only had 252 VSPD personnel from July 2022 to December 2022.
Of the 252, she had the highest number of deployed VSPD personnel during her engagements in NCR with 167. The lowest number of assigned VSPD personnel was during her trips in Visayas with 19.
Meanwhile, from January to August 2023, Duterte had 306 deployed VSPD personnel.
In total, the Vice President had 558 personnel deployed during her engagements from July 2022 until August 2023.
"The deployment of VPSPG personnel largely depends on the assessment of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the National Police. The OVP remains grateful to the AFP and PNP for supporting the VPSPG and OVP," the OVP explained.
It underscored that the VPSPG provides necessary security and protection to Duterte who also serves as the Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary, National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) Co-Vice Chairperson, and Southeast Asia Ministers of Education Organization President.
"Comparisons between Vice President Sara Duterte and security personnel of former Vice Presidents are absurd and completely lacking basis," the OVP furthered.
