A graphic circulating on Facebook (FB) claimed that the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will give out a P7,000-monthly allowance for all Filipinos as part of its “Pantawid Gutom Program.” This is fake. There is no such program.
Posted on Aug. 27 on a public FB group of telenovela fans, the bogus graphic featured the DSWD’s logo and a photo of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., along with the text:
“PANTAWID GUTOM PROGRAM. UCT/CASH CARD/NON POOR. 7K MONTHLY ALLOWANCE LAHAT MAKAKATANGGAP. MAGPALISTA NA NASA LINK ANG FORM (Unconditional cash transfer/cash card/non poor. P7,000 monthly allowance. Everybody will receive it. Register now with the form in the link.)
Its caption stated that those who sign up will be given a cash prize corresponding to their birth month. This is also not true.
As early as March this year, the DSWD has warned the public against cash assistance posts that do not come from their official website and social media accounts.
More, the social welfare department has no “Pantawid Gutom Program”. Its hunger alleviation project is called “Walang Gutom 2027: Food Stamp Project” and was launched in July.
Under the food stamp program, recipients will get a digital card loaded with P3,000 worth of food credits every month. Its target beneficiaries are a million of the poorest households prone to food insecurity. It is currently being piloted in five regions including Metro Manila and is slated for nationwide implementation in the first quarter of 2024.
The DSWD also has the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), a conditional cash transfer program for households in the poverty threshold that either have a pregnant woman or children aged 18 and below.
Qualified 4Ps beneficiaries, estimated at around 4 million households nationwide, receive monthly an education grant ranging from P300 to P700, a health allowance of P750 and a rice subsidy of P600.
Several FB users who believed the sham posts provided their birthdays on the comment section. Post authors then asked netizens to send them a private message for more information.
The graphic, which was shared across several FB groups, has generated around 220,000 interactions according to CrowdTangle.
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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.)
