Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs Frederick Go on Thursday dismissed as “fake news” a viral social media post claiming that the recent flood control corruption scandal wiped out ₱1.7 trillion in stock market value.
In a Palace press briefing, Go clarified that the figures being circulated were “falsely sensationalized” and not based on official market data. “The attributed source confirmed it was fake news and did not come from them.”
He issued this statement after Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Francisco Lim said they are working to rebuild investor confidence after the ghost projects issue wiped out P1.7 trillion in market value of listed firms over the past three weeks.
Go—a member of the economic team—said the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) confirmed that the supposed 12% market drop cited in the viral post never happened.
Citing data from August 11 to 29, Go said the main PSE index declined by only 1.58%, while the All Shares Index—comprising 282 listed companies—fell by 1.5%. The overall market capitalization, he added, slipped by just 1.4%.
“These are easily verifiable,” Go told reporters. “You can confirm this later with the PSE… or any stockbroker. They know this. All these details are public knowledge,” further pointing to information published in business columns, echoing his position on the matter.
When asked whether the controversy had caused any loss in investment pledges, Go replied that no such losses occurred. “I don’t think we have lost anything. The pledges continue to come in,” he said.
“As a matter of fact, we are now transmitting to the Office of the President the approval of the first beneficiary of the CREATE MORE Act, which is an investment from a Korean company of over one billion dollars,” Go pointed out.
He said the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) will be transmitting the papers to the Office of the President within the week.
Go further assured that no investors have withdrawn from their projects amid the ongoing investigations on allegations of corruption.
“I don’t think anybody has pulled out,” he said. “Sometimes when there is unpredictability in the environment, people might temporarily think about their investment projects. But we’re quite confident that when this is all resolved, they will all come back.”
