Claim: The face of Vice President Sara Duterte is not in the children’s book that she wrote titled, “Isang Kaibigan“.
Why we fact-checked this: The claim can be found in an August 21 post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter). The post says: “Yung libro na ni anino ni VPISD eh wala nga dyan” (The book that does not bear even a hint of a shadow of VPISD [Vice President Inday Sara Duterte] is not there).
The post also includes a video from the TikTok account “klc4.0” which — referring to Duterte’s book, Isang Kaibigan — says: “Yung libro ni Sara Duterte na walang mukha niya” (The book of Sara Duterte that does not carry her face).
As of writing, the post on X already has around 51 comments, 50 shares, 135 reactions, 7 bookmarks, and 23,800 video views. The source video on TikTok, meanwhile, has around 198,700 views, 3,690 reactions, 1,076 comments, 226 bookmarks, and 138 shares.
Both the X post and the TikTok video compare Sara Duterte and Senator Risa Hontiveros, pointing out the supposed absence of Duterte’s face in her book unlike Hontiveros whose face is supposedly on billboards and buses.
The facts: Vice President Sara Duterte’s book, “Isang Kaibigan” actually shows her face at the end of the book.
Numerous news reports have shown the page of the book that contains Duterte’s picture, along with some biographical details and the statement, “Siya ay isang tunay na kaibigan” (She is a true friend). Examples are news articles published on August 21 by Rappler, Philstar.com, and Inquirer.net.
What’s the issue: The controversy over the book arose during the August 20 budget hearing for the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) proposed 2025 budget. Senator Hontiveros asked Duterte about the book for which the OVP allotted a P10-million budget for printing and distribution.
Duterte, however, replied, accusing Hontiveros of “politicizing the budget hearing.” This did not sit well with senator, who later on told Duterte: “Budget hearing po ito. Hindi po lahat about you. Pera po ito ng taong bayan.” (This is a budget hearing. Not everything is about you. This is about public funds.) (READ: Rappler Recap: Sara Duterte, Risa Hontiveros clash during Senate budget hearing)
Duterte’s book is about an owl (Kwago) with many friends. A storm damaged the owl’s home; with the others gone, one of the owl’s friends, a parrot (Loro), offered to help the owl recover from the storm’s effects. – Percival Bueser/ Rappler.com
Percival Bueser is a graduate of Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program. This fact check was reviewed by a member of Rappler’s research team and a senior editor. Learn more about Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program here.
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