Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers (left), Senator Christopher "Bong" Go (Facebook)

Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers says politicians shouldn't expect to be catered to all the time by the Philippine National Police (PNP) when it comes to their security detail. 

Barbers gave this reaction after Senator Christopher "Bong" Go shared that he, like Vice President Sara Duterte, recently had his security detail recalled. 

Go say this causes him to worry whenever he travels. He even advised the PNP to not "engage in political agenda". 

For Barbers, the senator is quite fortunate to have any police escorts at all. 

"Mabuti pa siya (Go) may security (Good for him that he has security),” said Barbers, who wondered out loud just how many bodyguards Go had or in the first place needed. 

“For us politicians who travel from one province to another, minsan naman po nagko-coordinate tayo sa local police eh (sometimes we coordinate with the local police). We cannot bring along all the police force to guard you everywhere you go, di ba (right)? Hindi dapat ganun (It shouldn't be like that),” noted the veteran congressman from Mindanao. 

Barbers frowned at this culture among lawmakers and said that it must stop. 

“Kaya nga dapat iyong ganung kultura mawala iyon eh. Because as the PNP has stated mas kailangan ang visibility ng pulis duon sa mga area where crimes are prevalent, where crimes are ika nga eh nangyayari,” he explained. 

(That's why we should get rid of that culture. Because as the PNP has stated, the police need to be visible more in areas where crimes are prevalent, where crimes are happening.) 

“[Now], securing politicians is also one of the tasks of the PNP, but in this case we cannot tag along everybody we want to tag along everywhere we go. Kung mabawasan tayo (If our security detail gets reduced, so be it," Barbers further said. 

Vice President Duterte caused a stir recently when she assailed the PNP for cutting 75 cops from her security detail. She called the PNP's move a form of "harassment" and that it was caused by "politics". 

Despite this, the Vice President's security team is still over 300 in number. 

"Ang importante ang ating Pangulo, ang Bise Presidente, ang ating Chief Justice, ang ating Speaker, ang ating Senate President--under the Constitution sila lang po iyong may allowed na merong ganyang klaseng mga security escorts,” Barbers said. 

(What's important is that our President, our Vice President, our Chief Justice, our Speaker, our Senate President--under the Constitution they are the only ones allowed to have security escorts like that.)