MANILA, Philippines — The Presidential Communications Office has said that the memorandum circular on a supposed deduction of government employees' salary for a relief fund for earthquake victims in Türkiye is fake.
News5 reported this on Sunday, after the memorandum circular bearing the name of the Office of the President and the signature of Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin circulated on social media.
Nilinaw ni Presidential Communications Office Sec. Cheloy Garafil na hindi totoo ang kumakalat na memorandum circular kung saan sinasabing babawasan ang sweldo ng mga empleyado ng pamahalaan para sa relief fund na mapupunta sa mga biktima ng Syria at Turkey earthquake. #News5 pic.twitter.com/uJahidxq3x
— News5 (@News5PH) February 19, 2023
The fake document said that President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. supposedly approved the deduction of two-day salary in March of government officials and personnel for the “President’s Relief Fund for Turkey Earthquake Victims.”
Presidential Communications Office Secretary Cheloy Garafil was quoted in news reports as saying: “This is not true.”
Parts of Türkiye and Syria were struck by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake early in February. The quake has left at least 44,000 dead, including two Filipinos, and toppled thousands of buildings.
The Philippines has sent an 82-member team composed of personnel from the Philippine Air Force, Philippine Army, Metro Manila Development Authority, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, Department of Health and the Office of Civil Defense that arrived in the quake-hit country on February 9. — with report from News5