FACT CHECK: No free electricity, subsidies for national ID, vaccine card holders

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PhilSys debunked the claim in a May 7 post, saying that having a national ID does not mean automatic qualification for financial aid. No government office has announced such benefits for COVID-19 vaccine card holders either.

Claim: Filipinos with a national ID or a vaccine card can avail themselves of free electricity and various subsidies by completing an online registration form.

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: Various posts making claims like these have been circulating on Facebook, mostly posted by pages that present themselves as news outlets, such as “PH Daily News Alert” and “Serbisyong Tapat News.” 

The most popular post has garnered 991,000 views, 14,000 reactions, and 3,500 shares as of writing. This post, along with similar ones posted by other pages, uses video of a supposed news anchor claiming that vaccine card holders can claim free electricity and subsidies every month by filling out a registration form.

A similar tactic has been used in videos claiming that the same benefits apply to national ID holders, with one video reaching over 57,000 views.

The facts: The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) debunked the claim in a May 7 Facebook post, saying that there is no truth to these claims and that they did not come from the PSA.

“Ang pagkakaroon ng National ID ay hindi nangangahulugan ng awtomatikong pagtanggap ng anumang uri ng ayuda o assistance,” the agency wrote. “Ang pagbibigay ng benepisyo ay nananatiling nakabatay sa umiiral na patakaran, proseso, at kwalipikasyon ng bawat ahensya na nagpapatupad ng mga programang ito.”

(Having a National ID does not automatically qualify a person for receiving any type of aid or assistance. The granting of these benefits is based on existing policies, processes, and qualifications of each agency implementing these programs.)

No government office or credible news outlets announced such benefits for COVID-19 vaccine card holders either.

The supposed news reports are also 99% likely to be AI-generated, according to AI detection tool SightEngine.

Phishing risk: Link scanner urlscan.io shows that the links attached to the viral posts lead to blog sites posing as government update websites. Official websites of the Philippine government use a gov.ph domain, unlike the links contained in the fake post.

Phishing link checker EasyDMARC found the blog sites suspicious for phishing. This means filling out the form may pose risks to users’ personal and financial information. (READ: Phishing 101: How to spot and avoid phishing)

Free electricity: The false posts circulated amid heated online discussions on subsidies for the electricity bills of low-income households and senior citizens. (READ MORE: [DECODED] 4Ps beneficiaries — the poor — get blamed online for high electric bills) 

Rappler has also debunked other claims about fake government assistance programs:

• FACT CHECK: No P25,000 aid payout in March 2026 for national ID holders
• FACT CHECK: Links for national ID holders to register for cash aid are fake
• FACT CHECK: Post promising P29,000 cash aid from DSWD is fake
• FACT CHECK: Fake unconditional cash transfer registration links lead to gambling, blog sites
• FACT CHECK: Fake OWWA scholarship registration links lead to phishing websites     

– Shay Du/Rappler.com

Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.