Staff of OVP Speaks on Isang Kaibigan Book Written by Vice Pres. Sara Duterte
OVP – The Office of the Vice President confirmed that the “Isang Kaibigan” book is not part of their proposed fund for 2026.
The National Expenditure Program or NEP was already submitted by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to the legislators a few weeks ago. Currently, the House of Representatives and the Senate are deliberating the proposed budget of the different offices and departments of the government. Vice Pres. Sara Duterte’s office is asking for P902.8 million budget for next year.
Previously, the office of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte stressed that it is the same thing for them whether their proposed budget for 2026 will be increased or decreased. According to the OVP, they will still perform their mandate.
Vice Pres. Sara Duterte’s office also said that she is “ready” to defend the proposed budget of the office but her attendance to the hearings of the Senate and the House depends on her schedule. Meanwhile, her office assured that her staff will appear at the inquiries set by the upper and lower chambers.
Previously, ahead of the kickoff of the budget talks, the Vice President already claimed that she expects budget cuts from the proposed fund of her office for next year. According to her, the President and the House Speaker are still the same people.
Duterte also previously stressed that she opts not to seek for a fund that is really bigger compared to the P733-million budget approved of her office for 2025 as she is not an ally of the Marcos administration. For 2025, her office requested for P2 billion but was only approved to have P733 million.
The proposed budget of the OVP for 2026 does not include confidential and intelligence funds. Furthermore, based on a report on ABS-CBN News, the P902.8-million sought by Vice Pres. Sara Duterte’s office also got not budget allocation for the Isang Kaibigan book which was written by the Vice President herself.
The Isang Kaibigan book was previously controversial as it had a budget allocation of P10 million for its distribution among the Filipino students. According to her office, the Vice President has good intentions in the publishing of the book — to encourage the students to read and boost their reading capacity.
Based on the report, the OVP clarified that the Isang Kaibigan book is no longer part of the P100-million “Pagbabago Campaign” which seeks to distribute school bags with school supplies to around 200,000 students across the nation.
On the removal of the budget allocation for the Isang Kaibigan book written by Vice Pres. Sara Duterte, the OVP said they took note of the comments and recommendations of the Congress during the previous budget deliberations.
“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, while in The Hague, Netherlands, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte claimed that the President should have control over the proposed budget for 2026.