Vice President Sara Duterte’s children’s book “Isang Kaibigan.”
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) clarified that it was neither involved in the production of Vice President Sara Duterte’s children’s book “Isang Kaibigan”, nor in the reading of the story before Quezon City students in November 2023.
During the hearing of the House of Representatives’ committee on appropriations on Monday, 1-Rider party-list Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez asked Education Undersecretary Gina Gonong what role DepEd played when Duterte read her children’s book during the Araw ng Pagbasa on Nov. 21, 2023.
During that time, Duterte was the concurrent Education secretary. She stepped down from this role last July 19.
“What is the knowledge of the good undersecretary about this book? Was it the first time for her to find out about “Isang Kaibigan” during the launching itself? Because it was mentioned that they are not involved in the development. But surely, perhaps in the procurement or in the preparation of the program… they have had some knowledge of this book,” Gutierrez said.
Gonong said DepEd was not part of the publication.
“With the particular book, we only saw it when it was launched. But we know that she’s (Duterte) going to read. Because the Araw ng Pagbasa program, we do that yearly, and we invite reading ambassadors. So, sometimes there are famous people, officials of DepEd, who read before children in schools. And they can choose the storybook that they’re going to read. So, in this Araw ng Pagbasa in a Quezon City school, the VP picked her own story,” she explained.
Gutierrez asked if DepEd curates what books would be read for the program.
“Madam Chair, is there no role on the part of the DepEd to curate what book would be read for [Araw ng] Pagbasa? They leave it totally at the discretion of the reading ambassador, right?” he asked
“Yes po. We ask the reading ambassadors to pick a book that they want to read as long as the book is appropriate to the level of the learners,” Gonong replied.
Duterte’s book has been under scrutiny by House lawmakers after the heated exchange between Senator Risa Hontiveros and the Vice President during the Senate’s deliberations on the Office of the Vice President (OVP) proposed budget for 2025.
READ: VP Sara’s ‘Isang Kaibigan’ book sparks heated exchange in Senate
At the Senate hearing, Hontiveros asked Duterte about the contents of the book as it is part of the OVP’s line items with a proposed budget of P10 million. However, instead of directly answering Hontiveros’ question, Duterte claimed that the senator was “politicizing” the budget deliberations.
Duterte then quoted excerpts from a recent speech supposedly delivered by Hontiveros, in which the latter claimed that Duterte and her father were being “backed by the superpower China.”
Duterte also claimed that Hontiveros’ concerns stem from the fact that the Vice President’s name is on the children’s book which may be seen by parents who are voters.
READ: No ‘friend’: Hontiveros query on OVP book irks VP Duterte
During the House’s turn to deliberate the OVP’s proposed budget, Kabataan party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel pointed out errors in “Isang Kaibigan,” saying that these inconsistencies would only contribute to the worsening education crisis in the country.
According to Manuel, he and several other individuals noticed the following errors:
- non-existence of a “dahon ng [leaf of] Banahaw,” possibly mistaken with Anahaw leaf
- use of “sila” instead of “sina”
- lack of hyphen in the “walang awa”
- placement of an owl’s nest on tree branches
- an imposing tone on friendship
READ: Solon: Sara’s book ‘Isang Kaibigan’ tainted with errors, not for kids
The DepEd, under newly appointed Education Secretary Sonny Angara, is requesting a P793.1-billion budget for 2025, higher than the P762.0 billion provided by the executive in 2024, and the P699.6 billion in 2023.