All 75 police personnel tasked to protect Vice President Sara Duterte have been recalled to their mother unit on the same day President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. delivered his third State of the Nation Address on Monday (July 22).

In a statement on Tuesday (July 230 Duterte dislosed that PNP Chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil ordered the relief of members of the PNP Police and Security Group (PPSG) that were deployed to her office to protect and secure her, being the second highest government official in the country.

“I want to assure the public that this order will not affect my work in the Office of the President,” Duterte declared in the statement.

However, Duterte failed to hide her disappointment over Marbil’s decision as she aired hopes that Marbil’s decision will result in “less cries from the people regarding the proliferation of drugs in the country, and that even fewer shall fall victim to various criminal activities.”

Marbil later clarified to the media that the PPSG personnel were not removed but were merely recalled in consonance with the directive to increase the available police personnel to be deployed in various assignment.

The PNP official explained that before ordering the security personnel to return to their command, discussions were conducted with the vice president’s chief-of-staff.

The Commission on Audit has reported that there has been an increase of 455% in the number of OVP security personnel for Duterte compared to the 78 assigned to protect her predecessor, former Vice President Leni Robredo. The incumbent vice president had 433 police officer in her security contingent when she assumed office in 2022.

The OVP explained that the additional security detail was assigned Duterte because of her roles as secretary of the Department of Education and co-vice chairperson of the National Task Froce to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.