Several Facebook (FB) groups circulated posts claiming they are authorized to list down names of beneficiaries under President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos administration’s Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino program. The claim is false and the posts are linked to dubious sites.
Uploaded on Nov. 12, the posts’ caption read:
“PBBM Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino Program. 6 Million Pabahay ang itatayo ni PBBM, at nag uumpisa na kaming mag lista ng mga makakasama..SA MGA GUSTO MAG PALISTA ONLINE REGISTRATION MAG PALISTA DITO.”
(6 Million housing units will be built by PBBM, and we already started listing down those who will be included. TO THOSE WHO WANT TO BE LISTED UNDER ONLINE REGISTRATION REGISTER HERE)
The graphic attached featured a 2019 photo of housing units from the Subdivision and Housing Developers Association, Inc., a photo of Marcos in his first State of the Nation Address on July 25 and the logo of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD).
The graphic bore the texts:
“PBBM Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino Program.”
“SAAN KAYO LALAPIT PARA MAKAKUHA (Where will you go to get it)?”
“Libreng Pabahay, mag palista agad sa link (Free housing, register on the link).”
The graphic originally came from a vlogger’s FB page and some texts were only added.
The links in the caption lead netizens to a Sept. 23 blog post claiming they are the only authorized ones to register names and asking netizens to provide personal information.
Not true. These groups and the website are not authorized to register beneficiaries of the housing program. The blog post contained links to dubious and e-commerce sites.
On Oct. 24, DHSUD reminded the public that the selection of beneficiaries will be conducted by the Local Government Units. Any individual, group or organization claiming to be authorized to enroll beneficiaries in the program must be reported.
The selection will include social preparation, informal settler families census enumeration, socioeconomic profiling and social parameters establishment.
DHSUD officials also clarified that the housing program is not free. The program, however, will provide a preferential interest rate of only one percent, as compared to the six percent prevailing interest rate, to make it affordable.
Several netizens fell for the false posts, with some revealing their personal information in the comment sections.
The posts came out two days after the 2023 P3.9 billion budget for DHSUD was deemed submitted during the Nov. 10 Senate plenary deliberation.
This is not the first time that false posts about the housing program were debunked by VERA Files. (Read VERA FILES FACT CHECK: FAKE ‘pabahay’ and ‘P10K ayuda’ from BBM-Sara)
The post on the FB group DSWD NEWS UPDATES (created on Dec. 21, 2020) garnered 210 reactions, 309 comments and 6 shares. Other groups like BBM-SARA SUPPORTERS 2022 (Dec. 13, 2021), DSWD Official (Dec. 12, 2020 as 4P’s PANTAWID FILIPINO PROGRAM BUONG PILIPINAS LEGIT GROUP), DSWD Registration Ayuda (Oct. 24, 2021 as BBM SUPPORTERS ONLY) and the page Libreng Pabahay Para sa Mahihirap (Aug. 16, 2022) also shared the post.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
