Hontiveros asked valid question; Duterte answered in wrong way – Garin

HARDLY ON SAME PAGE Questions regarding a storybook written by Vice President Sara Duterte lead to a verbal tussle between her and Sen. Risa Hontiveros during Tuesday’s budget hearing. Things got testy after Duterte refused to directly answer why P10 million must be spent to distribute “Isang Kaibigan (A Friend),” its cover and author’s page shown in the insets. SENATE SOCIAL MEDIA UNIT/CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS

MANILA, Philippines — Iloilo 1st District Rep. Janette Garin believes Senator Risa Hontiveros’ questions about the book that the Office of the Vice President (OVP) seeks to publish were valid but were answered in the wrong way by Vice President Sara Duterte.

In a press briefing on Wednesday, Garin said that gossipers may have whispered stories to Duterte, which eventually led to “charged” answers to Hontiveros’ questions at the Senate deliberations on OVP’s proposed 2025 budget.

READ: VP Sara’s ‘Isang Kaibigan’ book sparks heated exchange in Senate

“When we have budget briefings and budget deliberations, you look at each line item. Was this used for office supplies?  This one for travel?  This one for employees? […] But the discussion segued to other issues that were not within the bounds of what was discussed. So it was a correct question answered in the wrong way and it mushroomed into many more misunderstandings,” Garin told reporters at the Batasang Pambansa complex.

“Maybe there’s malice; someone must have whispered things. That’s why VP Sara felt the issues were too personal […] That’s why as government officials, it’s really very important for us to be wary about the sulsuleras and mga marites (gossipers) because these are good to accept and let go if wrong because they will also have their own vested interest.  In this case, maybe before she arrived, there were already rumors; that’s why she thinks all questions are politicized,” she added.

Duterte and Hontiveros figured in a heated exchange during the Senate hearing on Tuesday, after the senator asked the vice president about the children’s book “Isang Kaibigan.”

The book, which was authored by Duterte herself, supposedly requires around P10 million just for its publication, leading Hontiveros to ask for additional information about the book.

READ: Duterte, Hontiveros clash over ‘politicizing’ budget hearings 

But instead of squarely answering Hontiveros’ question, Duterte accused the senator of “politicizing” the budget hearings, going as far as to claim that Hontiveros would later ask that the OVP’s budget be allocated to other agencies.

Duterte also quoted Hontiveros’s speech during an Akbayan congress, where the senator criticized the vice president and her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte.  The younger Duterte also claimed that Hontiveros was concerned about the vice president’s name being included in the book, as it could be seen by voters.

After the clash, the vice president said she could be cordial but not “plastic” or fake.

Earlier, Senate President Francis Escudero said Hontiveros has the right to ask questions about the OVP’s budget and that these should be answered.

Bad example

Garin believes the recent exchange should not be emulated as lawmakers have the prerogative to ask any question, provided that it is related to the budget being requested by an agency.

In this case, Garin said the book is a line item of the proposed OVP budget for 2025.

“In a budget briefing, any question can be thrown as long as it’s still related to the budget because when we deal about the budget, we’re talking about where taxpayers’ money is going to,” she said. “Because if like, there’s a question on there is a book, then the answer can be yes and no, and you can expound.  Kasi the Office of the Vice President has all the powers to identify their priority programs.”

“Let’s say if you’re publishing a book to teach children morals and values, especially if these are Filipino values, then that’s good.  I think it became controversial only because what happened was unlikely — I mean we’ve seen a lot of budget briefings and usually what the question is, is being answered.  What happened yesterday in the Senate is something that should not be copied in future budget deliberations,” she added.

La Union 1st District Rep. Paolo Ortega V meanwhile joked that if both officials had read the book, there would not have been any issue because the book is about friendship.

“Maybe — because I still don’t have a copy of the book so I don’t know its contents — but maybe if they read the book, they would have been friends.  But… it’s about friendship eh,” Ortega said.

Turning serious, the lawmaker said that he hopes agencies will be ready to answer questions during their turn to face the House of Representatives for the budget discussions.

“What we can answer is on the part of the House.  Here in the House, of course, we have scheduled budget briefings in the House, we need agencies — whoever will face us, whether it is the head of the agency — to be prepared because the House is ready for the budget briefings,” he added.