Former Senate president Vicente “Tito” Sotto III on Wednesday criticized police and security personnel assigned outside the Senate complex after protesters allegedly surrounded and assaulted his vehicle while he was leaving the area.

In a social media post, Sotto said he was “furious and disappointed” over what he described as the failure of authorities to control protesters gathered outside the Senate amid tensions surrounding the International Criminal Court (ICC) issue involving Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa and the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte.

“I am furious and disappointed with the PNP (Philippine National Police) and other security personnel assigned outside the Senate for failing to control the rowdy and unruly crowd,” Sotto said.

The veteran senator claimed protesters repeatedly banged his vehicle, hurled bottles and shouted insults while he was inside the car.

“The barbaric protesters banged my vehicle repeatedly, threw bottles and cursed foul remarks,” he said.

Sotto noted that he was traveling alone without bodyguards during the incident.

He also questioned the heavy police deployment outside the Senate despite the reported security breach.

“Ilang truck ng PNP ang naka-deploy sa Senate, tapos ganito (Several PNP trucks are deployed at the Senate, yet this still happened)?” he said.

Large groups of protesters from opposing political camps have been gathering outside the Senate complex in recent days following the Senate leadership change, the ICC-related controversy involving Dela Rosa, and the expected impeachment proceedings against Duterte. (PNA)