EDITORIAL - No personal piggybank

Anyone is free to become a book author. No one, however, is entitled to become a book author at taxpayers’ expense, with a guaranteed initial distribution run of 200,000, simply because the author happens to be a government official.

Books intended for distribution to early childhood learners in particular must pass through a proper vetting process – for the lessons and values imparted, the images and grammar used, and for overall age appropriateness.

Vice President Sara Duterte, apparently pleased with the controversy generated by her foray into the creation of children’s books, has announced that another one is coming up. The first, as she has described it, is about friendship; she says her next project will be about betrayal.

Filipinos aren’t clueless about the personal sentiments being conveyed by the author in these projects. The Vice President is free to pursue a career in creating children’s books, and basing the stories on her own experience, as she has maintained. But she should do it at her own expense. And if she intends to release her books to public schools, she must go through the normal process of registration and assessment of her work. Among the requirements is originality. The Vice President has denied that her children’s book, titled “Isang Kaibigan,” was plagiarized from the “Owly” series of US author Andy Runton, specifically one titled “Owly Just a Little Blue.”

Plagiarized or not, the Vice President wants taxpayers to bankroll the production of her book, to the tune of P10 million. At an estimated production cost of P50, the amount will mean 200,000 books that will be distributed “for free” to early childhood learners, according to the Office of the Vice President.

That P10 million is not “free” for taxpayers. And the ordinary children’s book author in this country can only dream of getting P10 million in people’s money to produce a book with a guaranteed distribution. Many authors would be hard-pressed to obtain even P1 million to publish a book.

The Vice President launched her book last year when she was still the secretary of education and not yet openly regretting her support for the presidential bid of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The post of education secretary, however, does not automatically entitle its holder to publish a children’s book at public expense, bearing the secretary’s byline and photo. Doing so betrays a mindset that sees public coffers as a personal piggybank. Congress, which holds the power of the purse, should disabuse the Vice President of this notion.