A Facebook reel circulating online claims that President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. owns 75% of shares of the World Bank. This is false.
The World Bank, an international organization founded in 1944 at the United Nations Monetary and Bretton Woods Conference to establish a new economic system after World War II, is jointly owned and governed by 189 member-countries, not individuals.
A superimposed text on the reel posted on March 4 read:
“75% SHARES NG WORLD BANK AY SA MARCOS NA“
Part of the publisher’s narration said:
“‘Yong World Bank, si Marcos Sr. ang nagtatag niyan noong unang panahon. Kaya maaari, iyan ang dahilan kaya maraming nakakakilala kay PBBM at iginagalang si PBBM dahil alam nila na ang 75% ng World Bank ay sa Marcos na
(It was [Ferdinand] Marcos, Sr. who founded the World Bank a long time ago. So perhaps that’s why people know and respect PBBM [President Bongbong Marcos] because they know that 75% of the World Bank already belongs to Marcos).”
The United States remains the World Bank’s largest single shareholder with approximately 16.05% voting power, followed by Japan (6.915%) and China (5.77%). No country or individual holds a 75% share.
The Philippines is a borrowing member with an actual voting power of only 0.44%.
The collaboration between the Philippines and the World Bank Group goes back 81 years, when then ambassador Carlos P. Romulo signed the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development Articles of Agreement on behalf of the country on Dec. 27, 1945.
The incorrect reel was published on the same day the Bureau of Treasury reported that the national government’s outstanding debt hit a new record high of P18.13 trillion, and three days after the Philippines received three new grants worth $4.13 million from the WB.
As of writing, the FB reel had garnered 10,500 reactions, over 1,500 comments, and 3,600 shares. It is also being cross-posted in multiple FB groups and continues to gain traction.
Editor’s Note: This fact check was produced with the help of a journalism student from Bicol University as part of their internship at VERA Files.
