FACT CHECK: No P4,000 educational cash aid from Landbank

Claim: The Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank) is giving out P4,000 to students from elementary to college.

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: The post bearing the claim has garnered 1,800 reactions, 1,100 comments, and 213 shares as of writing. It was posted on a Facebook group named “4p’s Updates,” which has 451,800 members. 

In both its caption and graphic, the post claims that Landbank will give P4,000 cash assistance to elementary, high school, senior high school, and college students.

The post then urges qualified applicants to fill out the linked application form so they can be included in the list of recipients.

The facts: Both the educational cash assistance program and the application link mentioned in the post are fake. Rappler reported in a previous fact check that Landbank’s only scholarship program is the Iskolar ng Landbank Program, which is open only to college students who are children or grandchildren of agrarian reform beneficiaries and small farmers and fisherfolk.

As of writing, the program’s screening process for school year 2024–2025 has not yet been announced.

Landbank has also repeatedly warned against fake educational cash assistance programs falsely associated with the bank. Its most recent advisory posted on June 25 urges users to only get their information from Landbank’s official social media channels, since announcements posted in unauthorized Facebook groups or pages may be scams.

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Phishing risk: The link provided in the fake post’s caption also leads to a blog site with a supposed application form, according to redirect checker WhereGoes. It does not lead to the official Landbank website. Filling out unofficial application forms with personal information may expose users to phishing scams. (READ: Phishing 101: How to spot and avoid phishing)

Official news: Official updates on Landbank’s programs can be found on the Landbank website and social media accounts on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube.

Previous fact checks: The Facebook page that made the claim has similar posts on supposed scholarship and aid programs offered by various institutions. Rappler has fact-checked false claims by pages posing as the social welfare department and other government agencies.

Other false claims on Landbank and its programs have been debunked:

• FACT CHECK: No application link for Landbank scholarship program
• FACT CHECK: Facebook post contains fake link for Landbank job application
• FACT CHECK: No educational cash assistance from Landbank
• FACT CHECK: No P2,000 Women’s Month cash gift from Landbank
• FACT CHECK: Landbank’s Gawad Patnubay scholarship program ended in 2022     

– Shay Du/Rappler.com

Shay Du is a Rappler intern. She is an incoming fourth-year mass communication student at Silliman University. This fact check was reviewed by a member of Rappler’s research team and a senior editor. Learn more about Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program here.

Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com. You may also report dubious claims to the #FactsFirstPH tipline by messaging Rappler on Facebook or Newsbreak via Twitter direct message. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.