A netizen’s post on a Facebook (FB) group claims that Social Welfare Secretary Erwin Tulfo has approved cash assistance of 10,000 for every Filipino family.
Neither Tulfo nor the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has announced such an aid package.
The netizen’s fake post on Nov. 10 appeared on the FB group DSWD NEWS UPDATES, which pretends to be one of DSWD’s online portals.
The agency posts legitimate announcements only on its official Facebook, Twitter, and web pages. Any updates about the DSWD’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) are posted on these official channels.
In the sham post, a graphic with a portrait of Tulfo and a logo of the 4Ps, bore text that read in part: “P10,000 NA AYUDA BAWAT PAMILYANG FILIPINO APPROVED NA (P10,000 financial aid for every Filipino family now approved)!”
To claim the non-existent prize, it asked netizens to register at the Blogspot site Ayuda-para-sa-pilipino, instructing them to share the fake giveaway to 25 groups to increase their chances of winning.
VERA Files Fact Check has debunked a similar post with the same modus.
The fake post appeared a day after Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano called for a simpler and faster distribution of social aid or ayuda during deliberations on the 2023 national budget.
The DSWD recently doled out livelihood assistance grants worth P10,000 up to P15,000 to a number of beneficiaries under its Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP).The agency eventually extended coverage of the program to low-income families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and to disaster victims, who could receive up to P20,000.
The fake post got a total of 1,785 interactions. Some netizens asked whether the alleged announcement was for real, while others asked how to get the made-up financial aid.
DSWD NEWS UPDATES was created on Dec. 21, 2020.
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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.)
