A video on YouTube and Facebook (FB) is claiming that the Senate ordered the closure of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO). Not true. The Senate made no such pronouncement.
Uploaded on Sept. 28, a day after PCSO officials appeared at a Senate hearing, the video bore a title stating:
“Senado Wasak ang PCSO Raffy Tulfo PUMUTOK sa Galit sa 2-ABUGADO ng PCSO bagong Modus ipapasara na (The Senate destroyed PCSO. Raffy Tulfo explodes in anger at PCSO’s two lawyers. New modus. Will be shut down)!”
Its thumbnail featured a photo of police closing down a PCSO outlet, superimposed with the text:
“PCSO SARADO NA UTOS NG SENADO (PCSO now closed. Senate’s orders)!”
There is no order from the Senate to close down the agency. The erroneous video is merely a clickbait that featured social media posts of netizens urging the Senate to close PCSO because of alleged corruption.
It also played clips from a Sept. 27 Senate subcommittee hearing over the PCSO’s Prize Fund Tax and the integrity of lotto games.
In the hearing, Sen. Raffy Tulfo, who chairs the panel, berated two PCSO lawyers for the repeated absence of the corporation’s high-ranking officials in subcommittee proceedings. The Senate then issued a subpoena against Chairman Junie Cua and General Manager Mel Robles.
Tulfo also said he would block PCSO’s attempts to digitize the betting system which would allow bettors to buy tickets online.
Meanwhile, reverse image search showed that the photo of police in the thumbnail was taken by Rappler in 2019 after former President Rodrigo Duterte temporarily suspended the PCSO’s operations over “massive corruption.”
In May, VERA Files Fact Check debunked a similar claim that Tulfo had shut down the state-owned sweepstakes operator.
Uploaded by previously fact-checked YouTube channel PINAS NEWS INSIDER, the untrue video received 174,329 views, 4,400 likes and 1,495 comments. FB page Deandre Mejia reposted the clip which garnered 551 views.
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