Three Facebook pages are circulating videos and graphics claiming the Commission on Higher Education is offering several educational benefits, including a yearly stipend of P20,000, under its Scholarships for Instructors’ Knowledge Advancement Program (SIKAP). This is fake.
In a Jan. 25 advisory, the agency flagged these “unofficial [FB] accounts that are misrepresenting CHED by disseminating false information about scholarships and financial assistance programs.”
Originally published by an FB page on Jan. 7, the video, which displays the name and logo of CHED, shows two old women stating:
“Baka may kakilala kayo na nag-aaral sa college, mag-apply na sa CHED SIKAP scholarship. P20,000 yearly ang makukuha mo. Free books at free uniform pa. Para makapag-apply, pumunta sa post namin at pindutin ang link para sa makapag-apply. Salamat po
(You might know someone who is currently in college, encourage them to apply for the CHED SIKAP scholarship. You can receive P20,000 per year, plus free books and uniforms. To apply, visit our post and click the link to submit your application. Thank you).”
Another video even increased the yearly allowance to P24,000, along with more benefits.
Two other pages have posted several graphics with different layouts, but contain the same claims on the P20,000 yearly stipend and free books and uniforms, supposedly available to all current and incoming college students.
The graphics, which bore CHED’s name and logo, allege that the “application is not yet open but you can save your slot now.”
CHED called these accounts “fraudulent” that “illegally use CHED’s name and logo while promoting unauthorized application and registration links.”
The FB posts disseminated inaccurate details regarding CHED’s financial assistance program.
First, SIKAP is not open to college students. Based on its official website, SIKAP is for higher education institution teaching and non-teaching personnel who are admitted or will enroll in a graduate degree program within the term of application in identified universities and colleges in the country.
Contrary to the claims circulating online, SIKAP does not offer a P20,000 yearly allowance and other free school necessities. Instead, financial privileges and incentives for full-time and part-time master’s and doctoral students under the program include the following:
There are ongoing calls for SIKAP applications, with deadlines set on Jan. 30 for Batch 5 and Apr. 27 for Batch 6.
VERA Files ran all the videos and graphics with untrue claims on two artificial intelligence detection tools, Hive Moderation and SightEngine. Results reveal that all of them are likely AI-generated.
The watermark of Veo, Google’s AI video generation tool, is visible at the bottom right corner of the two videos. Meanwhile, the three graphics bear the sparkle icon in the same corner, which is commonly found on content created through Gemini, Google’s AI assistant.
All posts carried links that redirect users to either a product page of an e-commerce platform or phishing websites that steal netizens’ personal information.
VERA Files has since fact-checked similar bogus claims regarding scholarship programs by CHED. (READ: FACT CHECK: Video of CHED-UniFAST scholarship application FAKE, FACT CHECK: FB posts from CHED impostors promote FAKE scholarship offer, VERA FILES FACT CHECK: Impostor FB pages spread FAKE CHED scholarship posts)
Published by FB page Nagkakaisang Pilipino News Online (created on Dec. 19, 2025 as Pilipines News Today: Updates, Trending and Hiring), the AI-generated videos have collectively amassed 37,000 reactions; 2,434 comments; 8,033 shares; and over 3.4 million views.
The posts carrying the fake graphics, posted by Philippine Scholarship Program 2026 (created on Jan. 9, 2026 as Ph News Today) and Gov.ph Updates (Sept. 14, 2025), have so far received 1,400 engagements.
