Rep Dan Fernandez. Photo by House of Representatives
By Jet D. Antolin
THE security assigned to Vice President Sara Duterte can guard the five islands in the Philippines.
This was clarified by Sta. Rosa Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez regarding the issue of the Philippine National Police (PNP) reducing the 75 Police Security and Protection Group assigned to Duterte, as assumed by the vice president and its allies.
According to the congressman, there are only 150,000 soldiers guarding over 7,000 islands in the Philippines. If they are divided, 75 are assigned to each island, but Duterte reportedly has 400 security personnel.
“There are only seventy-five soldiers assigned to each island, and having said that if VP Sara has 400 soldiers assigned to her and we have 75 soldiers per island, I think that is excessive and somehow irrational,” Fernandez said.
The lawmaker also denied that Congress is not doing anything to increase the strength not only of the Philippine National Police (PNP) but also of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
“I beg to disagree that the ideal is not already achieved by the PNP,” Fernandez said, as there are now 228,000 PNP personnel, reaching the 1:500 ratio needed because the population of the Philippines is only 115 million. He also said that this will increase by 10,000 next year because the PNP recruits additional personnel every year.
Meanwhile, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers and Antipolo City Rep. Romeo Acop clarified that politicians are involved in investigating illegal drugs and Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO).
“This is not politics. This is not related to political persecution. We are just doing our job so that we can fix the government agencies and corrupt government officials,” Barbers said.
Acop also stated that they have no interest in getting involved in political squabbles but only want to protect the country from syndicates that are destroying it.
