MindaNews fact-checked a Facebook page recruiting candidates in Mindanao to the Philippine Army that is cloning the real page.
The fake account, which uses the same Facebook page name Army Recruitment Office Mindanao, has 37K likes and 57K followers as of Tuesday, March 12. Its listed address is Camp Evangelista Patag cagayan de oro city , Cagayan de Oro, Philippines., has 21K likes and 34K followers.
One of the victims, who personally reported to ARO Mindanao that he was scammed, is from Samar province in the Visayas, Lagapa said, adding “they lost count of the number of victims, mostly from Mindanao, who reported their complaints online or through phone calls.”“There’s a fake Army Recruitment Page copying the contents of the legitimate one to scam the applicants,” it said.
As independent journalists, our primordial duty is to tell the truth and present facts to help the public discern issues and concerns impacting their lives.– if the claim is based on truth but maliciously twisted that gives a different impression to serve a group or individual’s vested interests.
Prior to the PFCI project, MindaNews co-founded Tsek.ph, a collaboration among Philippine media institutions to fight disinformation and misinformation during the 2019. Tsek.ph did the same thing for the 2022 elections. MindaNews has sustained its operation through proceeds from subscriptions of its news service and sales of books. It also receives grants from non-state actors. Editorial prerogative, however, is left entirely to MindaNews.
We abide by the Philippine Press Institute’s Journalist’s Code of Ethics. Since we became part of Internews’ Philippine Fact-Checker Incubator project, we have been striving to adhere with the IFCN Code of Principles, in step with our organization’s commitment to non-partisanship, transparency and fairness.