No DepEd payment for Sara’s storybook – Angara

MANILA, Philippines — There was no official record of payment for the making of the “Isang Kaibigan” storybook of Vice President Sara Duterte, Education Secretary Sonny Angara said yesterday.

Angara reported this at the hearing of the House committee on appropriations on the proposed P793.1-billion budget for 2025 of the Department of Education (DepEd), formerly headed by Duterte.

Upon questioning by 1Rider party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez, Angara confirmed that the two illustrators of the book, Janina Simbillo and Joseph Caligner, are working at DepEd as “job order” personnel.

Angara noted the two are with the Public Affairs Service office of the department.

“They are employees, yes, but there is no payment made to them, for whatever they did. So, it’s either they made it gratis or for free, or they were paid on the side. We don’t really know because there’s no record of official payment to them,” he added.

According to DepEd Undersecretary Gina Gonong, the agency does not have any role in the “development, reproduction or printing of ‘Isang Kaibigan’ storybook.”

Gonong recalled they saw that particular book when it was launched during DepEd’s celebration of Araw ng Pagbasa in a school in Quezon City in November 2023.

“We do that yearly. And we invite reading ambassadors. So, there are celebrities or officials of DepEd, they read in schools. And they can choose the storybook that they’re going to read,” she said.

Gonong added on that celebration, Duterte, who was then secretary of DepEd, read her storybook.

The book had been the subject of debate between Duterte and Sen. Risa Hontiveros during a Senate hearing on DepEd’s 2025 budget as the book requested a funding allocation of P10 million.

Hontiveros asked Duterte to explain this but she accused the senator of “politicizing” the budget of the Office of the Vice President.

The children’s story was reportedly written by the Vice President herself.

The story revolves around an owl named Wago, who was always surrounded by birds as his roost was open to all because it offered good food and companionship.

However, a storm ruined Wago’s home and the birds that used to surround him disappeared.