A book on friendship to be distributed under a 2025 project of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) sparked a hostile exchange between VP Sara Duterte and Senator Risa Hontiveros during the budget deliberations of a Senate finance subcommittee on Tuesday, Aug. 20.
As a concluding question, Hontiveros asked about the OVP's 'Pagbabago' campaign for 2025 which seeks to distribute one million bags with school supplies to remote communities and plant one million seedlings.
This project has a proposed P100 million allocation and part of it is an allocation of P10 million for the distribution of 'Isang Kaibigan' books, a children's book authored by Duterte.
Hontiveros particularly asked about the contents of the book. But instead of responding to the question, Duterte accused Hontiveros of politicizing the budget, pointing out Hontiveros' plans to amend it.
Hontiveros initially said that she would make a motion at the proper time to propose an amendment to the OVP's budget after observing that a huge chunk P1.909 billion of the proposed budget amounting to P2.037 billion, would be used for the delivery of socio-economic programs, such as financial, medical, burial, and education assistance that other government agencies are already implementing.
Duterte went on to quote Hontiveros' speech during the Akbayan Congress which is specifically against the Dutertes before asking her to repeat the question.
"I will certainly if you request Madam Chair repeat my question dahil walang kinalaman sa kasasabi lang ng VP ngayon. At alam nating lahat na myembro ng ibat ibang partido, yung speeches natin sa ating mga kamyembro sa mga party congresses ay hiwalay na event dito sa budget debates (I will certainly if you request Madam Chair repeat my question since what the VP said has nothing to do with it. We all know that we belong to different parties and our speeches to party congresses are separate events from our budget debates)," Hontiveros said.
"So I really take exceptions dun sa sinabi ni VP na rebuttal iyan dahil halimbawa ito sa politicizing (So I really take exception in what VP said that this is her rebuttal because this is an example of politicizing)," she added.
When asked one more regarding the book's contents, Duterte said that she will send a copy to Hontiveros so she would know about it.
Hontiveros said that her question is not only for her but for their colleagues present during the budget hearing.
"I'm asking a question bilang isang mambabatas sa head of agency ng isang opisina sa executive dito sa budget hearing na 'to (I'm asking a question as a lawkmaker to the head agency of an office in the executive here in the budget hearing)," she added.
Duterte once again said that this is an example of politicizing the budget.
"Ang problema niya kasi nakalagay yung pangalan ko doon sa libro, at yung libro na yan ibibigay namin doon sa mga bata at yung mga bata na yan may mga magulang na boboto at yung pangalan ko ay nagkalat doon sa kung saan man ibibigay yung libro (Her problem is my name is in the book, and the book will be given to children who have parents that are voters and my name will be disseminated to where the books will be distributed)," she said.
"Madam chair we commit to send tomorrow everyone in this room a copy of the book," she added.
Hontiveros said that she cannot understand Duterte's demeanor over a simple question and stated that she does not appreciate this kind of attitude since resource persons usually provide them the same institutional courtesy the legislature gives to the executive.
"I don't appreciate this kind of attitude," she added.
Duterte replied that she also didn't appreciate Hontiveros' behavior, after which the topic shifted to the 2016 elections. She mentioned how Hontiveros asked for help get votes in Davao City.
Senator Grace Poe, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, said that while everyone there shares a political history, they should be objective and stick to the issue at hand.
She, then, asked Duterte what the book was about in general.
Duterte replied that it's about "friendship."
"Madam Chair, the explanation is in the title 'Isang Kaibigan.' It's about friendship," the vice president said.
Poe, then acknowledged Duterte's response, but Hontiveros manifested before the hearing that the vice president should have been upfront about such a very simple detail.
"So kung sana ganun yung naging sagot sa simula pa di ba? Napakasimple, dapat simpleng sagot. Nagkwento pa ng nagkwento na walang kinalaman sa tanong ko (So I wish that was the answer from the beginning, right? It's very simple, it should be a simple answer. She told another story that had nothing to do with my question)," Hontiveros pointed out.
"For the record, this hearing is about public funds and we're making inquiries about them. Budget hearing po ito hindi po lahat about you. Pera po ito ng taumbayan (This is a budget hearing, it's not all about you. This is the people's money)," she emphasized.
To this, Duterte did not respond.
Despite the back and forth between the Vice President and Hontiveros, the budget of OVP was submitted for plenary approval.