by: Kyle Cartagena
CLAIM: Sen. Risa Hontiveros’ cars were bought using government money for her own good while VP Sara Duterte didn’t have her face in her book.
RATING: MISSING CONTEXT
TRANSLATION: “Sara Duterte’s books that don’t have her face in it.” – “Risa Hontiveros’ cars that were bought with government funds with her face on it.” — a TikToker claimed.
With the Office of the Vice President (OVP)’s Senate-side budget hearing last August 20, 2024, Senator Risa Hontiveros brought to the Senate’s attention the 100-million pesos allocated for the OVP’s Million Learners and Trees program. A part of this budget was a 10-million pesos allocation for Vice President Sara Duterte’s book, “Isang Kaibigan”, printing and distribution amongst schools nationwide.
See: ANC 24/7 – Full Coverage of the Senate Hearing for the OVP Budget [35:49 – 36:40 ]
As such, a TikToker with 79,900 followers uploaded a video within the same day. They claimed that Senator Risa Hontiveros also used government money on vehicles that had her image on it. While VP Sara Duterte’s book, which is to be printed and distributed through the use of 10,000,000 pesos, does not have her face on it. However, as of September 20, 2024, the TikTok sits at 250,900 views and 4,305 likes, still gaining attention from the netizens.
Based on the Facebook video that GMA News uploaded, it shows the entire contents of the book as well as an image of VP Duterte seen at the end of the book as a form of an afterword. It also lists the government positions that she has held. The page ends with a final statement that reads, “Siya ay isang tunay na kaibigan” or “She is a true friend”.
Photo Courtesy of GMA News
Subsequently, one of the vehicles used as an example by the TikToker was a bus that had a PhilHealth advertisement featuring Sen. Hontiveros. The advertisement is shown to name her as the director for PhilHealth which means it can be dated between 2014 to 2015 as per her term within its office.
According to an interview with Attorney Alex Padilla, Chief Executive Officer and President of PhilHealth at the time, he stated that PhilHealth didn’t pay for her advertisements, referring to Hontiveros’ campaign commercials that were currently running at that time.
Though when pressed regarding how she may be using her place in PhilHealth as a stepping stone, “I don’t want to say that… As far as we’re concerned, we [PhilHealth] need a lot of information dissemination to go to the grassroots et cetera and, to be frank, she is actually good material.” he replied.
Additionally, the Commission on Audit’s report on PhilHealth had no mention of Sen. Hontiveros using the funds for herself nor an irregularity within the budget that would point towards her.
This entails that while government money was not used for her direct campaigning ads, PhilHealth did decide to use her as their representative for the advertisement used in the TikTok as they consider her as “good material” for public service.
However, the second vehicle seen in the video could be considered under the use of government money as this is the official vehicle used by Sen. Hontiveros’ office for the transportation of goods and services, namely their “ Liwanag and Lingap ”– Field Hospital Services program.
Photo Courtesy of Angat Buhay Pateros
Several posts of the original poster lie in favor of the Dutertes, both VP Sara Duterte and former President Rodrigo Duterte, which would align her as pro-Duterte.
Sources:
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZS2jWfMEA/
https://youtu.be/3Xque5DBpiY?t=2149
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1409735369723816
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt12QLvjomA
https://www.facebook.com/angatbuhaypateros/posts/pfbid02K5qMynNrU1PfTd6ibCwnZcr8eAEH9GArYgtTj66ReqnyhJyuR9kVryRBT3w6fKRVl
https://www.tiktok.com/@klc4.0/video/7407866551803694337
https://www.tiktok.com/@klc4.0/video/7406153658557058320
https://www.tiktok.com/@klc4.0/video/7402330915516534033
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This article is De La Salle University – Dasmariñas’ (DLSU-D) contribution to the Asian Network of News and Information Educators (ANNIE) School Net’s campus fact-checking project of establishing and operating a student-driven fact-checking newsroom on campus. The ANNIE project is supported by a grant from Google News Initiative. GreenFM is DLSU-D’s official media for the ANNIE project.
