Website newstrends.xyz resurfaced an already debunked unsubstantiated claim that Sen. Risa Hontiveros was involved in the anomalous Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) bonuses.
Posted on Dec. 20, the false article by newstrends.xyz bore the title, “SA IKATLONG PAGKAKATAON COA ORDER HONTIVEROS NA IBALIK NA ANG P160M PHILHEALTH MONEY (For the third time, COA orders Hontiveros to return P160M PhilHealth money).
A reverse image shows that photo used in the false article was from an April 2016 Rappler story on the 2016 senatorial debates in which Hontiveros participated.
PhilHealth corporate manager, Rey Baleña in a 2018 email to VERA Files had already clarified that Hontiveros, a former PhilHealth board member, was not among the officials named in the Commission on Audit (COA) decisions.
The false report came after Hontiveros posted the same day on her social media accounts a list of bills, resolutions and laws she passed in the Senate this 2019.
Newstrends.xyz shares a Google Adsense ID (ca-pub-7669160049884684) with six other websites suggesting that only one individual or group is behind them:
- www.balitangpinas.xyz (archived)
- www.duterteforever.net (inactive)
- www.dutertenewsph.info (inactive)
- www.pilipinews.xyz (archived)
- www.pinastrends.xyz (active)
Pinastrends.xyz has been flagged at least twice by VERA Files Fact Check for producing misleading content.
Google Adsense is a program run by Google to track and manage advertisements. Each publisher is given a unique ID or identifier which may be used across several sites the publisher owns.
The false report may have reached over 3 million followers on Facebook, garnering 21,500 interactions, and has been reposted for 101 times. Top social media traffic generators are FB public groups President Rody Duterte Facebook Army, Duterte Para sa Bayan, and Sara Duterte for President 2022 Elections.
Newstrends.xyz was created on Feb. 2018.
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
