‘Binegno C. Aquino’ raffles off P650,000

Screenshot of text message claiming that President Benigno Aquino III gave away a prize of P650,000.

MANILA, Philippines — A text message claiming that President Benigno Aquino III gave away a prize of P650,000 was received by an INQUIRER.net employee Tuesday evening.

The text message congratulated the female employee, whose identity will be kept, saying that her sim card number “had won (650,000) from: Binegno C. Aquino,” misspelling the president’s name.

“To claim ur prizes Plz call me now! I’m sec: Ronnel C Gonzales. From:info dpt,” the text message said.

A call to the sender was answered by a man who identified himself as Atty Poringcula of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

When asked where he was working he said: “Department of Digital Insurance Company”

“Meron ho kami dito na fun run internal racing sa dti namin, sa bureau internal racing po,” the man said.

He said that 100,000 sim card numbers were included in an electronic raffle draw and that this reporter’s sim card number won second place worth P850,000 even though no message was received.

The prize money differs from the amount indicated in the text message.

“Maswerte yung number mo kasi yun po nabunot, pinadalhan namin ng mensahe, second prize winner worth P850,000,” he said.

When asked how the prize could be claimed, the man instructed to send the full name and complete address and then to call him back.

“I-text mo sakin yung kumpleto pangalan address tapos tawagan mo ako ulit dito,” he said.

Asked why it was necessary, he retorted: “kung hindi ka willing wag mo na lang itext.” and then dropped the call.

The DTI Bureau of Trade Regulation and Consumer Protection (BTRCP) said in a phone interview that there was no Secretary Ronnel Gonzales in the DTI nor an Attorney Porningcula working at the supposed department of digital insurance.

A check on the DTI sales promo permit number indicated in the text message showed that it was from a private company and not from the government.

The BTRCP said that they would investigate the matter especially since it involved people claiming they were from DTI.