Pet care website howtocare.net published Sept. 27 a report with a misleading headline which claims that housewives will now receive a P2,000 monthly allowance.
The story, which could have reached over four million netizens, bore the headline, “Stay-At-Home-Mothers, Mabibigyan Ng Php2,000 Na Allowance Kada Buwan (Stay-At-Home-Mothers to receive Php2,000 allowance a month).”
This is misleading. Howtocare.net’s headline insinuates a law has already been passed mandating the distribution of the said allowance. Not true.
The body of the website’s story only reports that 2nd District of Albay Rep. Joey Salceda filed House Bill 8875, which indeed sought to give stay-at-home moms a monthly allowance of P2,000. Salceda filed the measure during the 17th Congress last January. He re-filed the measure — House Bill 80 — this July in the 18th Congress. It is currently pending review at the House Committee on Gender and Equality.
Social media traffic to the misleading report largely came from unofficial Facebook fan pages of noontime show hosts Vic Sotto, Willie Revillame (Willie Revillame Show), and the page Anne Lines & News. It surfaced around the same time Salceda filed a series of bills from late September to early October, including measures seeking to create a Department of Water, increase taxes on mining operations, and limit the number of non-working holidays.
Howtocare.net was created on March 8, 2019.
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
