PU-PU-litika!

On Aug. 20, fireworks flared up at the Senate finance committee hearing on the P2-billion 2025 budget of Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte, an eight percent increase from 2024. Hot topic: a P10-million book, “Isang Kaibigan” (A Friend), authored by the VP.

At Tuesday’s hearing, if friendship was in the air, it was not apparent to many, although Senator Hontiveros addressed Sara and her huge coterie of ten, including a “VP for security,” as “the OVP family;” committee chair Grace Poe welcomed “the OVP delegation.”

Lawyer Sara is a political warlord (from Davao) in her own right, aside from being the daughter of former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte, who is separated from Sara’s mom of German descent and who is claimed to have killed 27,000 drug addicts. Sara is also the political queen of Mindanao. In the 2022 elections, she got more votes than Ferdinand Marcos Jr., 32.2 million vs. 31.6 million, though not a significant margin.

Hontiveros asked why the VP, in her budget, duplicates the functions of line agencies or Cabinet departments of President Marcos Jr. such as burial assistance, health and educational benefits.

Retorted Sara, in English and Tagalog, her eyebrows raised and fingers fidgety:

“Another example of politicizing the budget of the government. (Reading from her cellphone) Let me just quote Sen. Risa during the Akbayan Congress, ‘Alam ko po na andaming kalat ni Duterte na hirap na hirap tayong linisin. Ang kadiliman noong panahon niya ay talaga namang nanuot sa ating lipunan na napakahirap tanggalin. At habang ang anak niya ay may kapangyarihan pa, hindi magiging madali ang ating laban. While VP Sara is in power, the threat of a full-blown Duterte comeback is still a very real and present danger. For one, they are supported by one major superpower, China’.”

Explained Sara: “Whenever we refer or endorse someone for assistance to the DSWD, often they are denied because ‘galing yan sa Office of the Vice President, kalaban yan’ (they came from the OVP, they are enemy, politically). Sometimes, the assistance is politicized (PU-PULITIKA!).” Stress on PU – like when someone wants to curse in Tagalog.

“I did not ask anything about China nor about any other country. I am asking about the national budget of 2025,” Hontiveros bristled.

The senator zeroed in on an OVP program, “Pagbabago (Change) Campaign,” funded with P100 million. Up to one million learners are to be given a loot bag with a copy of Sara’s book. “The book is not for sale,” the VP snorted. “We only pay for the publication of the book. We will send Sen. Hontiveros a copy so that she will know what is the content of the book.”

“Simple question,” Hontiveros insisted, “Tell us more about the book. How many copies of the book will the government buy?”

VP Sara’s reply: “This is an example of politicizing the budget hearing… The senator’s problem is this: my name is in the book. The book will be given to kids. The parents of these kids are voters. And my name is all over the book. We commit to send tomorrow everyone in this room a copy of the book.”

Hontiveros: “I cannot understand the behavior of the resource person. It is a simple question. Yet, she keeps repeating, politicizing. I am simply asking a question. I cannot imagine why we make so much trouble, so much fuss about a P10-million item. What is the book about? How many copies will the government buy with the P10 million?”

Hontiveros was not pleased: “I don’t appreciate this kind of attitude, Madam Chair. Usually ang resource person natin ay nagbibigay ng parehong institutional courtesy sa legislature na ibinibigay natin sa executive. I don’t appreciate this kind of attitude.”

Sara countered: “Hindi ko din maintindihan ang ugali ni Sen. Risa Hontiveros. And I do not appreciate – ano yung sinabi niya? – I do not appreciate this kind of behavior and attitude.”

She recalled that in her third run for senator and fearful of defeat (she lost the first two), Hontiveros asked for her help.

“Humingi siya ng tulong sa akin thinking na hindi mananalo si president Rodrigo Duterte. Kinausap niya ako ng kinausap duon sa law office ko sa Davao City. Sabi ko sa kanya, o sige tutulungan kita, chinika niya ako ng chinika tapos umalis siya. Siyempre hindi naman siya tumutulong kay Pangulong Duterte, hindi din totoo ang sinabi ko na tutulungan kita. Tinext niya ako, puwede ba akong mag-follow up sa hinihingi kong tulong sa boto diyan sa Davao City? So sabi ko sa kanya, OK sige.

“So tinawagan ko at sinabihan ko at pinakiusapan ko ng pinakiusapan si former congressman Milen Garcia. Sabi ko sa kanya, ‘Cong, tulungan mo ito, bigyan mo nalang ng ilang barangay mo at ilang mga leaders mo.’ … Nung nanalo siya, anong ginawa niya? Siya ang pinakaunang umatake kay president Rodrigo Duterte. Anong tawag sa ugaling ganito?”

What, chair Grace Poe asked, is the book about? Is it about good manners? Science? History?

Sara: “Friendship.”

The cover of the book, “Kwento ni Inday Sara Duterte” (The story of, or by, Sara Duterte), has a drawing of an owl and a parrot.

The owl has large black eyes surrounded by light green circles with its body colored in Tiffany blue. The parrot’s head is colored light pink, surrounded by blazing red from head to the body and tail, with yellow and light green for its wings. Owls are a symbol of wisdom. Parrots stand for “mimicry” and the “power of true colors.”

The book has a full-page pic of Sara, resplendent in dark green terno with the seal of the OVP and the Philippine flag as backdrop.

An election propaganda material? She says she is not running in 2028.

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