Yet another slew of Facebook posts claiming that the government has announced a temporary lockdown and masking mandate as safety measures against a local “flu outbreak” is making the rounds among Filipino netizens. The posts are fake.
They were published as early as Oct. 18, and continued to circulate this final week of October. One carried the caption:
“INFLUENZA ADVISORY. MANDATORY FACE MASK. DOH and DepEd issued reminders regarding the increase in influenza cases in some schools. Because of this, see more…”
Another dubious FB post bore a graphic warning that says:
“Influenza virus, temporary lockdown October 23-31 2025 dahil sa pagtaas ng kaso ng Influenza virus. MAG FACEMASK (because of heightened influenza cases. Wear facemask).”
Some of the posts carried links purportedly leading to a list of areas affected by the lockdowns. However, they actually open to e-commerce platforms and spammy websites.
The government has no plans to implement a lockdown, said Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa in a media briefing on Oct. 17. He explained that there is no flu outbreak, only that Filipinos are experiencing seasonal flu-like illnesses. These pertain to symptoms like coughs (ubo) and colds (sipon) – and yes, actual flu or trangkaso – that spread quickly during the rainy season.
On Oct. 18, the Department of Health reported that cases of flu-like illnesses decreased by 39% in the first two weeks of October (or about 6,400 cases) compared to a high of over 10,700 cases in the last two weeks of September.
And in a Super Radyo dzBB interview on Oct. 25, Dr. Jose Rene de Grano, chief of the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines Inc., said that despite the initial spike in cases of flu-like illnesses in private hospitals nationwide, the number seemed to be “plateauing.”
The DOH warned the public to remain cautious by practicing preventive measures during this flu season, such as washing of hands, covering the mouth when sneezing or coughing, and drinking medicine if symptoms show.
The fabricated advisories came from an impostor of The Filipino Channel, the ABS-CBN global network that targets the Filipino diaspora community. The FB page called “Filipino Channel” (with 1.2k followers), recently created on June 21, has been publishing a continuous stream of these fake posts, announcing “lockdowns” and class and work suspensions covering various dates between Oct. 19 and Oct. 31 and several regions around the country. The page also publishes graphic cards that carry the Marcos administration’s Bagong Pilipinas logo.
Other FB accounts have republished the fake advisories, including the page Idol Gen Vlog (created on Aug. 18, 2023) and a Facebook user, collectively garnering 278 reactions, 203 comments and 202 shares.
