By DOMINIC GUTOMAN
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Instead of funding the publication of Vice President Sara Duterte’s children’s book, a child rights group demanded a higher budget for social services for children and the Filipino people.
Salinlahi Alliance for Children’s Concerns believe that the book authored by Duterte, titled “Isang Kaibigan,” is a publicly funded public relations (PR) stunt, with a proposed budget worth P10 million ($517,160). Salinlahi is a progressive children’s organization advocating for child’s rights.
“While many Filipino children cannot go to school because education is no longer accessible—school supplies are expensive, food is costly, and uniforms, bags, and other needs are unaffordable—Sara Duterte is focused on boosting her public image and covering up her failures as the former Secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd),” said Miguel Gonzales, national spokesperson of Salinlahi.
Duterte’s tenure as Secretary of DepEd was marred with criticism as she failed to address major problems in the education sector. This includes the deficiency of at least 91,000 classrooms for school year 2022-2023, the widespread red-tagging of teachers’ organization, and the shortage of teachers in the public education system.
Read: Teacher-solon to Sara: Address the problems of the education sector
Gonzales reminded the Vice President that many children are still suffering from the “flawed MATATAG curriculum” — which the latter sold as the solution to the education crisis. “You are even using the Filipino children to pursue your ambition of restoring your reputation.”
The Matatag curriculum, launched under Duterte’s tenure, aims to “produce competent, job-ready, active, responsible, and patriotic citizens.” It streamlines the original seven subjects into five key areas for students from Kindergarten to Grade 10. These subjects include language, reading and literacy, mathematics, nationalism, and good manners and right conduct.
A survey of 3,679 respondents revealed that the implementation of the Matatag curriculum has increased teachers’ workloads by 30 percent, making their jobs more burdensome. The curriculum was also previously condemned due to the replacement of “Marcos dictatorship” to “dictatorship” in the Social Science subject, which historians say as an attempt to distort history.
Salinlahi called on the Vice President to address more pressing education sector needs such as publication and improvement of textbooks. They also challenged the administration of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to focus more on improving basic social services.
As of now, the education sector has the highest budget in the 2025 proposed national budget of the Marcos administration, which is currently at P977.6 billion, followed by public works under the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) at P900 billion.
Notably, the allocation for the publication of the children’s book was questioned at a Senate budget hearing on Tuesday, August 20, where Duterte and Senator Risa Hontiveros clashed in a heated discussion.
“This is an example of politicizing the budget hearing through the questions of a senator. Her problem is, my name is listed in the book. And we will be giving that book to the children. And those children have parents who will be voting. And my name will be spread wherever the book is given,” said Duterte when asked about the context of the book.
After a long exchange, Hontiveros said that the inquiry is about the public funds, refusing to submit to the accusation of Duterte of politicizing the budget.
“For the record, this involves public funds. And we’re making inquiries about them. This is a budget hearing. Not everything is about you,” Hontiveros retorted. (RTS) 
