Vice President Sara Duterte used to get what she wanted.

When public opinion descended, she was put in check. The latest is the cutting down of her large security detail.

Apologists of the vice president, and many in the media were quick to pounce on the victim card after she announced last July 23 that her 75-strong police escort had been relieved by the Chief PNP. They were worried sick of the vice president’s security.

However, despite the relief, the vice president said in a press statement “I want to assure the public that this Order will not affect my work in the Office of the Vice President.”

Rightly so. And supporters need not worry, the vice president is secured.

PNP chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil said the police personnel detailed to the president was just an augmentation force. He added that the vice president’s security is under the jurisdiction of the Presidential Security Command (PSC), formerly PSG.

And no less than the PSC commander Brig. Gen. Nelson Morales gave the assurance that the security and safety vice president is their responsibility.

The current VP and the former VP are a study in contrast.

The former vice president was modest and made do with the small budget appropriated to the Office of the Vice President (OVP).

The budget of VP Leni was a pittance compared to the current OVP. For example, in 2021, the OVP budget was P900,000, in 2023, it was P2,343,891,000.

The current VP has reportedly spent over a hundred million pesos in intelligence funds for 11 days. And had it not been for strong public opinion, she would have gotten her way to the banks with a P650 million intelligence fund, as secretary of education.

VP Leni had a security detail of around 150 in the early years of her term. As she fell farther from the president, this has been whittled to less than a hundred.

According to Atty. Barry Gutierrez, spokesperson VP Leni: VP Leni’s security detail was 150 at its peak. By the end, she had less than a hundred. Binawasan yan over time, never nagreklamo. The current VP had around 400, to begin with for her details.

The 400 figure provided by Atty. Gutierrez is unverified. We tried to verify it but our sources at Malacanang said the exact numbers are confidential.

We checked figures from the Official Gazette and found that the OVP’s expenses for Military/Uniformed Personnel in 2021 amounted to P5,700,000. In 2023, it was P25,308,000. These figures somehow correlate with the information shared by Atty. Gutierrez.