As expanded unit, VPSPG to get additional equipment, personnel
MANILA, Philippines — The Armed Forces of the Philippines said the security unit dedicated to protecting vice presidents will be getting additional personnel and equipment but its functions will remain the same.
AFP Public Affairs Office Chief Col. Jorry Baclor clarified that the duties and responsibilities of the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG) will still be the same as the former Vice President Security Department (VPSD).
The VPSD was under the supervision of the AFP’s General Headquarters and Headquarters Service Command (GHQ & HSC) in Camp Aguinaldo.
“The VPSPG is already an expanded [unit] of the VPSD, same function [but with] added personnel and equipment,” Baclor told Philstar.com in a mix of English and Filipino on Sunday.
“Since it is expanded, it became a separate unit of the AFP, no longer under the GHQ & HSC, with its own designated group commander.”
Lt. Col. Rene Giroy, previously a member of the Presidential Security Group, is the VPSPG’s first group commander.
Vice-president elect Sara Duterte, a presidential daughter herself who previously assigned PSG members to guard her, opted to request for an independent unit.
Duterte said this unit would help secure the vice president and her family in case of strained relations with the president.
The AFP formally activated the VPSPG that will be tasked to protect the vice president and her family on Saturday, days before Duterte will officially take the place of Vice President Leni Robredo as vice president.
Duterte was grateful that the military and the defense department responded positively to her request for an “independent group.” She said that the VPSPG is “expected to solve the challenges if, in future elections, the vice president and the president face the misfortune of having strained relations."
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