The decision to realign the proposed P10 million allocation for the book authored by Vice President Sara Duterte under her office’s budget for 2025 will be up to the decision of the majority of the senators.
Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero said when asked if he sees something wrong in the allocation of millions of pesos for the distribution of the book entitled “Isang Kaibigan.”
“Hindi ko pa nakikita ‘yung [budget] item at hindi ko pa rin nababasa ‘yung libro para magkaroon ako ng pasya o paghuhusga kaugnay sa bagay na ‘yan. Sa dulo, pagbobotohan naman at pagpapasyahan ‘yan ng Senado gamit ang mayoriya kung sino man ang may mayoriyang boto pabor man o kontra na tanggalin o ibalik o panatilihin ‘yan, ‘yun ang masusunod palagi,” Escudero told reporters in an interview.
(I haven’t seen the budget item yet, and I still haven’t read the book to form an opinion or make a judgment about that matter. In the end, it will be put to a vote and decided by the Senate through a majority. Whoever gets the majority vote, whether in favor or against, to remove, restore, or retain it, and that’s what we will follow.)
“Posible [ang realignment] pero tulad ng ibang mga pagdedesisyunan ng Senado at ng komite. It will be subjected to a vote,” he added.
(Realigning the P10 million budget is possible but like the other items, that will be decided by the Senate and the committee on finance. It will be subjected to a vote.)
Escudero pointed out that the decision to realign allocations in the bill containing the proposed national budget should not be based on emotions, specifically on the case of the P10 million for the book which sparked a heated exchange between Duterte and Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros.
“Hindi dapat haluan ng anumang uri ng emosyon ang anumang pagpapasya ng Senado bilang isang institusyon kaugnay ng anumang panukalang batas kabilang na ang budget,” the Senate president said.
(The Senate as an institution should not be swayed by any kind of emotion in making any decision regarding any proposed legislation, including the budget.)
Still for Escudero, Hontiveros’ questions were valid, prompting him to advise the heads of government agencies “to be patient with an answer because these are connected with the functions of Congress.”
Asked about the appropriateness of Duterte’s behavior during the budget hearing, Escudero said, “It’s for the chair to decide and apparently yesterday she did not find it so. Pero sumagot din naman sa dulo (But in the end, the Vice President did answer the question) so all’s well that ends well. Again, with the intercession and intervention of the chairman.”
During the Kapihan sa Senado forum on Wednesday, Hontiveros insisted that the P10 million for the distribution of the Duterte-authored book is “improper.”
“As for the P10 million item para sa libro, well, I think in principle improper request ‘yan. Dahil kung meron kang sinulat na libro, kung ikaw ang sumulat niyan, hindi dapat gamitan ng government funds at taxpayers money para ipamudmod,” Hontiveros said.
(As for the P10 million item for the book, I think it’s an improper request in principle. If you’ve written a book, and you’re the author, it’s not right to use government funds and taxpayers’ money for its distribution)
“Ang punto lang kasi, textbook ba ‘yan? Approved ba ng DepEd? Ako, kung pag-usapan natin ‘yung textbook problem ng DepEd, ‘yung nakaraang dalawang taon, ang daming problema, ‘di ba? So bakit inuna ang isang personally authored, kung siya ang sumulat niyan, personally authored na libro? P10 million. Maliit kung sa textbooks kabuuang budget ng DepEd, pero hindi siya barya. At P10 million na galing sa buwis ng mamamayan. So pera pa rin na hawak ng gobyerno, na dapat tanungin ng Kongreso,” she went on.
(The point is, is that a textbook? Is it approved by the DepEd? If we’re going to discuss the textbook problem of the DepEd, over the past two years, there have been many issues, right? So why was priority given to a personally authored book, written by that person? P10 million. It’s a small amount compared to the overall budget of the DepEd, but it’s not insignificant. And P10 million that comes from the people’s taxes. So, it’s still the people’s money, handled by the government, which the Congress should question.)
Hontiveros quipped that it is “obvious” that the purpose of the book is for Duterte to introduce herself.
“Obviously, the purpose is to magpakilala… It appeared doon sa back page, merong mukha niya. Tapos, siya ay 15th Vice President of the country. A former Mayor of Davao. A former Deputy Secretary. Tapos ‘yung last sentence is, isa siyang kaibigan. Do you think anong purpose ng libro na ‘yun?” she said.
(Obviously, the purpose us to introduce her. It appeared on the back page, her face was on it. Then, she is the 15th Vice President of the country. A former Mayor of Davao. A former Deputy Secretary. And the last sentence was, she is a friend. What do you think is the purpose of that book?)
She likewise questioned the timing of the distribution of the books, saying: “Kung talagang mamumudmod ng libro sa mga bata, bakit ngayon lang? Bakit hindi nung 2022 o nakaraang taon? Bakit ngayon? Ngayong taon ay bisperas ng isang importanteng proseso.”
(If we’re really going to distribute books to children, why only now? Why not in 2022 or last year? Why now? This year is the eve of an important process.)
Apart from the P10 million for the books, Hontiveros said she will seek realignments of OVP’s proposed programs which are “duplications” of other government agencies’ projects.
Asked if Duterte should have been kinder during the budget hearing, Hontiveros said, “I don’t need for her to be kind. Ano lang, institutional courtesy lang. Kasi, gaya ng nabanggit ko kahapon sa hearing, kami sa Senate, we strive to give institutional courtesy sa mga counterparts namin sa Executive.”
(I don’t need her to be kind. All I need is institutional courtesy. As I mentioned yesterday during the hearing, we in the Senate strive to extend institutional courtesy to our counterparts in the Executive.)
Hontiveros already received the copies of the “Isang Kaibigan” book which was promised by Duterte herself during the hearing on Tuesday.
For her part, Senator Grace Poe, chairman of the Senate finance committee, defended Hontiveros’ questions on the P10 million allocation for the OVP-proposed children’s books, saying it is “well within the lines of the hearing’s agenda.”
“It is every senator’s duty to scrutinize the budget. No line item in the budget [documents] should be above scrutiny and questioning,” she said.
“We understand that there will always be differences in opinion, but we can only hope that personal sentiments be placed in the back burner as we go through the objective process of reviewing the budget,” she went on.
Poe then emphasized that public servants should lead by example in their actions and words which she said “set the tone for the national conversation.”
“The budget review, though objective, really gives rise to some heated discussions but we hope that these help thresh out issues rather than distract so we can craft a better budget for the people,” she ended.—AOL, GMA Integrated News
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