Statement of OVP on Removing Budget Allocation for VP Sara Duterte’s Isang Kaibigan Book
OVP – The Office of the Vice President confirmed they removed the budget allocation for the “Isang Kaibigan” book of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte in its proposed fund for 2026.
Currently, the Senate and the House of Representatives are deliberating the 2026 proposed budget amounting to P6.793 trillion. For next year, the Office of the Vice President requested for a P902.8 million budget which the office said is enough for their programs.
Previously, the OVP said that Vice Pres. Sara Duterte is ready to defend the proposed budget of her office but her attendance to the inquiries is uncertain. According to her office, it depends on the schedule of the Vice President but the staff of her office will be attending the Senate and the House of Representatives’ hearings.
In the proposed budget of the office of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte for 2026, they did not ask for confidential and intelligence funds. The Vice President remains surrounded by questions and allegations of misused CIF of her office as well as the CIF of the Department of Education when she was the DepEd secretary.
Aside from not having confidential and intelligence funds in the proposed budget for 2026, the OVP also confirmed removing the budget allocation for the Isang Kaibigan book. The said book written by Vice Pres. Sara Duterte herself was controversial for its P10-million budget allocation in the previous proposed fund of the office.
Vice Pres. Duterte’s office previously defended the said book citing that it comes with good intentions of enhancing the reading skills of the students. It met criticisms considering its budget allocation. Based on a report on ABS-CBN News, for 2026, the book will no longer be part of the P100 million Pagbabago Campaign of Duterte’s office which includes giving out bags with school supplies for the Filipino students.
“We took note of the comments and recommendations of the Congress during the budget deliberation of the OVP last year. For this year and the years moving forward, the Pagbabago bag will include the bag itself. It will contain school supplies and the dental kits, as initially proposed,” OVP assistant chief of staff Lemuel Ortonio said.
Previously, amid the criticisms over her Isang Kaibigan book, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte claimed that she plans to write another book entitled “Ang Taksil na Kaibigan”.