Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) Administrator and Chief Operating Officer Katrina Ponce Enrile said that Vice President Sara Duterte should use her personal money for the publication and distribution of her self-authored book, “Isang Kaibigan (A Friend).”
The daughter of presidential legal counsel Juan Ponce Enrile issued the statement after Duterte was questioned about a P10-million allocation in the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) 2025 budget for the printing of her storybook.
“That’s her story. Why doesn’t she use her money (for the book)?” Enrile said during the latest episode of the “Leslie Bocobo Live” aired over state-run Radyo ng Pilipinas.
Enrile said requests for public funds under the General Appropriation Act must undergo scrutiny and proper deliberation.
“Even if the money is allotted to you, you have to follow the process,” she said.
The CEZA official also advised the vice president to set an example to all Filipinos.
“As government officials, we should be a role model to the people. They say that they are humble. But with the way they act, will people think that they are truly humble? Or they are just pretending to be humble,” she said.
Defending a senator’s right to scrutinize a government office’s request for budget, Enrile said it was a lawmaker’s “prerogative to ask questions especially if it involves the money of the people.”
“That’s public money, the money of the people… why can’t it be questioned?” Enrile said.
Duterte’s “Isang Kaibigan” was the subject of inquiry by opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros because of the P10-million allocation for its publication and distribution.
The vice president said the issue was being politicized because of the election season.
“Her problem is that my name is written in the book and that book we will give it to the children whose parents are voters. My name will be all over the areas where the books will be given,” Duterte said.
Hontiveros denounced Duterte’s “attitude.”
“She repeatedly says this is politicizing. The VP mentioned the word vote. I never said anything about voting. I’m simply asking. I can’t imagine we’re making so much trouble, so much fuss about a P10-million item,” the senator said.
Duterte’s book tells the story of an owl who lost his bird friends when a storm damaged his home. Amid his desolation, a friendly parrot offered to help the owl rebuild his nest, proving that true friends never leave in times of need.
The children’s book was launched in November 2023, and is being distributed to some public schools for free.
Be the first to comment