(UPDATE) VICE President Sara Duterte has lashed out at critics who claim that her children’s book, “Isang Kaibigan (A friend),” was plagiarized from the work of an American author.
Social media users, which also include some prominent authors, allege that Duterte’s story was copied from the graphic novel “Owly: Just a Little Blue” by Andy Runton.
In a statement on Wednesday, Duterte said it is easy to write a story based on personal experience, and there is no need to copy from other books.
“The project is to push children to love reading and write their own stories,” she said.
OVP spokesman Michael Wesley Poa said the book was copyrighted last year, which proves that it was an original work from the vice president.
Poa said the problem is not the book itself but the low reading comprehension among the youth.
Duterte said the sequel would be about the betrayal of a “friend,” which she did not elaborate.
The book was at the center of a heated exchange between Duterte and Sen. Risa Hontiveros during the Office of the Vice President’s budget hearing, where Hontiveros questioned the P10 million allocated for printing the book.
The book is part of the OVP’s “PagbaBAGo” program, which aims to distribute school supplies and dental kits to one million schoolchildren, while also planting one million seedlings for the National Greening Program.
The book, which tells the story of a parrot helping an owl rebuild his home that was destroyed by a typhoon, is said to be drawn from her personal experiences and portrayed the essence of true friendship.
During the launch of the book last year, Duterte said she was delighted to have fulfilled one of her dreams, writing a book.
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