MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has warned the public against bogus Facebook pages promising cash or prizes in exchange for likes and shares as well as those purportedly hiring for employment.

“Verify the registration of such companies with appropriate government agencies before engaging with them, especially in providing information,” DOLE warned on Wednesday (January 7).

The alert came after DOLE acted on a complaint against a certain company named ‘Eternal Investment’ alleging that it is gathering people on Facebook and assigning them to job positions on a voluntary or commission basis. 

Recruits are allegedly assigned to positions such as executives, managers, and graphic artists.

The complaint also claimed that Eternal Investment is reportedly “manipulating people and not paying proper dues based on the output of the volunteers.” 

Upon coordination with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), it was found out that ‘Eternal Investment’ is not registered with the DTI nor with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

To protect the public, the labor department’s Bureau of Local Employment brought the complaint to the SEC’s Enforcement and Investor Protection Department for further investigation.

Facebook on Thursday (November 5) removed the pro-Trump group, “Stop the Steal” for allegedly violating the social network’s policies.

“In line with the exceptional measures that we are taking during this period of heightened tension, we have removed the group ‘Stop the Steal,’ which was creating real-world events,” Facebook said in a statement.

The group has around 300,000 members which, according to Facebook, is being used to delegitimize the election process. Facebook also saw “worrying calls for violence from some members of the group.”

United States President Donald Trump on Thursday continued to question the integrity of the US voting system over alleged incidents of voting fraud.

Meanwhile, Trump said in his Twitter account that he and his team will challenge vote counts in states won by his challenger, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. AAC

BENGUET PROVINCE, Philippines — A total of 200 miners and their families have been locked down inside a bunkhouse in a mining community in Itogon, Benguet after a number of miners tested positive for coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The local government and health officials in the area have agreed to subject all bunkhouse occupants to the same COVID-19 management protocols being applied to positive cases.

According to Governor Melchor Diclas, inside the bunkhouse were also the 44 miners who first contracted the disease. 

“Ang nag-positive dyan ay 40 plus another nadagdagan kaya mga 50. Kaya ang decision diyan dahil walang paglalagyan pa na quarantine facility kaya ginawa natin na yung bunkhouse na ang quarantine facility o isolation facility doon, (Around 40 people initially tested positive then the number increased to more than 50. So we decided, since there is no quarantine facility available, the bunkhouse itself will be their quarantine facility or isolation facility),” the governor said. 

All positive cases are confined on the third and fourth floors of the building while those who are not sick occupy the ground floor and second floor as they await the result of their swab tests.

While they are inside the bunkhouse, the local government is currently working on establishing an isolation facility where the infected families will be transferred.

On Thursday (October 22), another 74 miners were among the 93 new COVID-19 cases reported in the province, the highest number since the outbreak started in the Cordillera region.

Most miners and their families who tested positive for the disease were from crowded mining communities of Stio Luneta in Barangay Loacan, Sitio Sangilo in Poblacion, Sitio Balatoc in Virac and Barangay Ampucao.

Overall, the province has reported a total of 872 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 426 of which recovered and 11 died of the disease. MNP (with reports from Grace Doctolero)