CLAIM: All senior citizens will receive P8,000 cash aid directly from Malasakit Centers.
RATING: FALSE
A Facebook page falsely claimed that Malasakit Centers are giving out P8,000 cash aid to all senior citizens.
The post also attached a suspicious link that redirects to a web page of a dubious e-commerce platform.
The edited image in the post was originally from a press release from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) announcing budget allocation for expanded senior citizens’ care.
There was no mention of any cash aid distribution.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) did not release any official statement regarding the distribution of cash aid to senior citizens.
The Malasakit Center’s mandate is specific only to providing medical and financial assistance to “financially incapacitated” or “indigent” patients, not to all senior citizens as the post claimed.
Section 9.3 of the Malasakit Centers Act states that a medical social worker shall assess the patient’s eligibility under existing Department of Health (DOH) guidelines on patient classification.
Multiple social media users have been inquiring about the process of claiming the supposed cash aid.
Suspicious Facebook pages also shared the malicious post in their timelines, accumulating hundreds of reactions and impressions. Vergel Villarba
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