Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua (left), Vice President Sara Duterte (Facebook)

Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua has accused Vice President Sara Duterte of making a fuss over her reduced security detail as a way to divert from her supposed absence last week when Typhoon "Carina" barreled through the country. 

This, as Chua debunked the Vice President's claim that the Philippine National Police's (PNP) decision to remove 75 personnel from her security detail was a form of "harassment" and rooted in "politics". 

"On the contrary tingin ko wala naman pamumulitika akong nakikita. Baka mamaya dina-divert lamang niya yung issue," Chua said in a press conference Tuesday,  July 30. 

(I don't see any politics. She might just be diverting from the issue.) 

"Naalala po ninyo, siya po ay sumagot dito noong pumutok po yung issue na siya po ay pumunta sa Germany sa kasagsagan po ng bagyo. Sa tingin ko dina-divert lamang po nila yung issue. Sa tingin ko hindi naman po dapat lahat pinupulaan natin ng politika," the Manila solon noted. 

(If you remember, she answered this issue after news came out that she went to Germany at the height of the typhoon. I think they are just diverting from the issue. I don’t think politics should be brought into this.) 

Chua went as far to say that Duterte "the mostly (sic) secured vice president in the history" of the country. 

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In an earlier statement, the congressman said that Vice President Duterte still has 355 security personnel left, even though her 75 police escorts have been removed. Out of the 355, 31 were police escorts. 

Reports said that Vice President Duterte's direct predecessor, Leni Robredo, had only 75 security personnel. 

The PNP justified the removal of the 75 police escorts from Vice President Duterte's security team, and said that the cops would be given more important tasks.  

"The PNP is just doing their job. Sana respetuhin natin po yung ganito pong trabaho (Let us respect this kind of job)," Chua said.  

Vice President Duterte and her family left for Germany early in the morning of Wednesday, July 24. By Wednesday afternoon, much of Metro Manila and several parts of Luzon were inundated by flood as a result of the heavy rains brought by Carina and the southwest monsoon (Habagat).