Vice President Sara Duterte slammed Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil following the relief of 75 police personnel assigned to her security detail, calling the move a “political harassment.”
Vice President Sara Duterte and PNP chief Gen. Rommel Marbil (OVP, PNP Photos via Facebook)
In an open letter, wherein the official called Marbil a “liar,” the Vice President said that the pull out of the security personnel happened after she resigned as secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd) and after she made a snide remark about President Marcos’ State of the Nation Address (SONA).
“Ang relief ng mga PNP personnel ay dumating pagkatapos ko mag-resign sa DepEd, pagkatapos ko inihambing ang SONA sa isang catastrophic event, at pagkatapos lumabas ang cocaine video (The relief of the PNP personnel came after I resigned from DepEd, after I compared the SONA to a catastrophic event, and after the cocaine video was released),” she noted.
Duterte was referring to a viral video allegedly showing Marcos using cocaine. This has since been tagged as fake, and an investigation is underway.
“Let us spare our people from all the lies. Let us call it what it is — a clear case of political harassment,” she added.
This is “clear,” Duterte said, because the relief order covered PNP personnel that have her “trust and confidence” because some have been with her since 2007.
“It was obviously a targeted list and a targeted maneuver — nothing else,” the official stressed.
Last week, Duterte confirmed the recall of 75 members of her security detail, following an order by Marbil dated July 22.
The PNP chief earlier justified the reduction in the Vice President’s security personnel, saying they needed to augment the number of police deployed to the National Capital Region (NCR).
But in the open letter, Duterte lamented that 38 of the 75 PNP personnel were from Mindanao and were then transferred to NCR despite Mindanao also suffering from lack of police.
While she would have wanted to let go of the issue because there are more important things to address and she stressed that she could dispense her duties with less security detail, the Vice President said Marbil have granted at least three interviews about her.
“Sa isang banda, naiintindihan ko kayo sapagkat natural lang sa mga nagsisinungaling na magkaroon ng sari-saring kwento at dahilan (On the other hand, I understand you because it is only natural for liars to have their own version of stories and reasons),” she added.
“At laging tandaan — para hindi magkabuhol-buhol ang kwento mo, laging magsasabi ng totoo (And always remember — so your stories will not get mixed, always tell the truth),” Duterte said.