FACT CHECK: No order from Duterte to shutdown ‘Kabrigadahan’

A post circulated on Facebook that President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the closure of “Kabrigadahan Gensan” (Kabrigadahan) is fake news.

Kabrigadahan is the community engagement program of the Brigada Group of Companies (Brigada), a homegrown conglomerate based in General Santos City with interest in the media industry, pharmaceutical distribution, household products, food supplements and security services, among others.

The fake report showed the byline of Allan Nawal and published by the state-run Philippine News Agency (PNA). 

Nawal denied he wrote and submitted such report for PNA.

Brigada News Gensan flagged the fake news, noting that Kabrigadahan continues to operate to help the needy.

Robinson Francisco, Kabrigadahan community engagement officer, said those who spread the fake news want to destroy Brigada’s community engagement program.

“There’s no truth that we’ve been ordered closed by President Duterte. We have not ceased operations,” he said.

A Google search did not also yield any report from the mainstream media that Duterte issued an order to close down Kabrigadahan.

According to its website, https://gensan.kabrigadahan.org/, Kabrigadahan is a communal donation drive among its members, the proceeds of which is given to a member needing assistance.

The fake news, which came out on May 9, election day, has been shared at least 300 times since then.

Brigada owner Elmer Catulpos, a local radio personality, ran but lost in the recent mayoralty race in General Santos City.
 
Brigada operates at least 32 FM news stations across the country.

As with all our other reports, MindaNews welcomes leads or suggestions from the public to potential fact-check stories. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)

(This fact-check piece was produced with the support of Internews’ Philippine Fact-Checker Incubator Project.)