Buried among the more major headlines of the various national dailies is a news item about the so called ‘culture’ of entitlement with police escorts. The item surfaced after Senator Christopher “Bong” Go expressed his opinion that like Vice President Sara Duterte his security detail or escorts were also recently recalled. It can be recalled that Vice President Duterte recently assailed the Philippine National Police (PNP) for recalling 75 policemen from her security detail and called the action as a form of harassment due to politics. Despite her outburst we know now that the Vice President still has a security team of more than 300 personnel.
However, the issue that should concern us is how come elected public officials, at least below those of the President
and Vice President, get to enjoy the benefit of having so many police and sometimes even military personnel for their
protective detail. Our country is confronted daily with various concerns relative to peace and order and we need all the warm bodies we can muster to protect lives and property. But here we have public servants who have dozens if not hundreds of policemen and soldiers serving as their glorified security guards.
If the government is to secure the lives and properties of the people that it serves then it must see to it that more
policemen should be patrolling the streets, solving crimes and apprehending criminals to bring them to justice, and not serving as escorts for politicians. Perhaps it is not too much for the public to ask how many policemen and soldiers serve as security details for all public officials from the Senate President down to the mayors of local government units. Perhaps the public can also ask how much is being spent for all of these security escorts for each public official.
That way the people are apprised on how many and how much is being spent to protect the politicians they voted into office. The people are entitled to this information and they should demand that it be made public. This is vital so that when election time comes around, they will know and fully understand the kind of politicians they will be voting
into office. It must be understood that politicians especially those occupying both houses of Congress, not all of them of course, seem to enjoy the perks of being elected into office and are often tempted to flaunt their power and influence by surrounding themselves with armed security personnel all at the expense of the people’s money.
It would be a different matter if say a certain elected public official has 10 or even 15 security escorts but most of
them are paid from the pocket of the elected official and are not members of the PNP or the AFP. Can these politicians afford to hire and subsidize their own security personnel? Of course! For Senators and Congressmen their salaries range from P273 thousand plus pesos to P312 thousand plus pesos each month. But that is just their basic monthly pay and what is not generally known to the public and is not published are the other perks and allowances accruing to their position as congressman or senator.
This usually includes consultation fees, research expenses as well as allowances for their trips back to their districts. There have also been reports that a congressman can still be entitled to other “sources” of funds such as so called “appearance fees” for appearing and being present at the plenary hall and during deliberations and approval of
important legislative bills. With the above, the perks and benefits of being an elected public official such as a
congressman or senator aside from their regular salary is certainly enormous when compared to the salary of an
ordinary government employee and so almost certainly these public servants have the wherewithal to shoulder the
expenses in hiring their own personal security detail.
Now before we can even consider restricting the number of police and military escorts for these politicians there must first be full disclosure on all elected public officials, at least those below the president and vice president, that have been assigned government security details. After this a re-inventory of personnel should be conducted to establish how many policemen and soldiers have been assigned per public official and must be based on whatever threat assessment can be had as reference anchored of their duties as an elected public official.
When everything has been considered the PNP and the AFP may then issue directives that would limit to a certain number the policemen and soldiers to be assigned per public official, based on request and the obtaining threat assessment if there are any. As for the rest of their security personnel these congressmen and senators who feel that their life and that of the lives of their family are in danger can use their own financial resources to hire and acquire
their own security detail to protect them. So they have to get their own.
October 5, 2024
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