A Facebook (FB) video falsely insinuated that Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary (DSWD) Erwin Tulfo will file a case against former vice president Leni Robredo for using government food packs in her Angat Buhay Foundation’s relief operations for victims of flooding in Banaue, Ifugao.
Posted by FB page Bbm-Sara News on July 11, the 16-minute video’s headline read: Erwin Tulfo Handang Kasohan Si Leni Dahil sa dswd Food Packs | Leni malaking Problema Ang Pinasok (Erwin Tulfo ready to file charges against Leni [Robredo] because of DSWD Food Packs | Leni now into a huge problem).”
This is erroneous. Tulfo was only quoted as saying that it is against the law for a non-government organization like Angat Buhay Foundation to distribute official DSWD food packs. He did not threaten to sue Robredo or the Foundation.
In a July 10 FB post, Tulfo said: “Hindi po namimigay ng mga food packs at iba pang relief items and DSWD sa mga NGO para ipamigay sa mga tao dahil ito po ay labag sa batas (The DSWD doesn’t give away food packs and other relief items to NGOs for distribution to people because this is against the law.)
Tulfo issued the statement in reaction to a post by Inquirer.net published hours before. The Inquirer.net post shared a photo from Angat Buhay Foundation where boxes of DSWD-labeled relief supplies were in a picture together with goods from Robredo’s NGO.
Clarifying the Inquirer.net’s report, he said he learned that the local government unit (LGU) of Banaue, Ifugao opted to store the DSWD food packs and the Angat Buhay relief items in one warehouse, as shown in the photo.
During a July 11 interview with ABS-CBN’s DZMM TeleRadyo, he reiterated that NGOs are not allowed to distribute DSWD food packs. The DSWD should only directly provide such items to the LGUs, he said.
The video from FB page Bbm-Sara News (created on Feb. 9) has garnered 15,000 reactions, 1,800 comments, and 342,000 views. Its claim came from a video uploaded by YouTube channel IDØL CÀLØY (created on Feb. 23, 2019), which got over 102,550 views as of July 14.
Have you seen any dubious claims, photos, memes, or online posts that you want us to verify? Fill out this reader request form.
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
