'Tatayuan ko po': Teodoro says VP security group is a 'necessity'

Vice President Sara Duterte (left) and DND Secretary Gibo Teodoro (Facebook)

Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro Jr. has personally affirmed the need for the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG). 

He did so during the House Committee on Appropriations' deliberation on the DND's 2024 budget on Thursday, Sept. 7. 

House Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro quizzed Teodoro on the VPSPG during her interpellation in the budget hearing. 

“Ako po, tatayuan ko po ang necessity ng VPSPG. (Personally, I will affirm the necessity for the VPSPG)," Teodoro said. 

"Kasi ang Bise Presidente po noong araw ay dinadagdag po yan sa PSG (Presidential Security Group) budget at hindi po consistent ang kanilang suporta…Kaya nga mabuti ito, naka self-contain ito hindi po humahatak ng ibang tao na hindi po nare-report.” he added. 

(Back in the day, the Vice President gets added to the PSG budget but it doesn't get consistent support...That's why this is good, this is self-contained, it won't involve other people who don't report.) 

According to the DND chief, a total of 345 personnel will be assigned to the VPSPG next year, which is the same as the 2023 figure. However, this is lower than last year's personnel detail of 433. 

Castro's main issue was the sheer size of Vice President Sara Duterte's security personnel, which she called "excessive". Duterte is the concurrent Department of Education (DepEd) secretary. 

Teodoro disagreed with Castro that the Office of the Vice President (OVP) has too much people in terms of security. 

“Sa kasaysayan, mga Bise Presidente po inaa-assign-an po ng malaki ngunit hindi naka-reflect sa separate unit (Historically, the Vice President gets assigned a huge security detail but is not reflected on the separate unit)," he said. 

“Kaya [around] 400 po yan dahil OVP, mga advance locations po na pinupuntahan niya, DepEd, rotation po ng mga staff at support po sa kanyang opisina (The reason why it's around 400 is because the OVP, the advance locations that she goes to, the DepEd, the staff and support of her office is on a rotation basis)," added Teodoro. 

To this, Castro said, "On previous VPs, as far back as 80s, may do with VPSP, maybe a small detail lang po. Ngayong mukhang hindi nagkakasya sa isang humble unit (But now a humble unit doesn't seem enough)."