A YouTube video is claiming that Social Security System (SSS) pensioners will receive a P1,000 increase in their allotments, and that this additional amount will be released together with their 13th month pension. This is false.
There is no announcement from the SSS that pensioners will get an additional P1,000 and while the 13th month pension is usually released every December, the agency has yet to give an exact payout date for this year.
Uploaded on Nov. 12, the erroneous video bore this headline:
“ATTENTION ALL SENIORS & PENSIONERS! SSS 13TH MONTH PENSION AT ₱1,000 INCREASE, SABAY IBIBIGAY (SSS 13th month pension and P1,000 increase will be given simultaneously)!”
Such a claim was not supported by the video. It merely played an audio clip from a 2022 episode of SSS public service program “uSSSap Tayo” discussing the 13th month pension.
In March, the SSS said it is looking into the possibility of a pension increase but did not give a specific timeframe for its implementation.
Former president Rodrigo Duterte approved a P1,000 across-the-board pension hike for SSS members in 2017. That same year, the state pension fund said it would seek to give another P1,000 increase before Duterte’s term ends in 2022. This did not happen.
Prior to this, Congress passed a bill in 2015 that mandated a P2,000 monthly pension increase but this was vetoed by former President Noynoy Aquino.
Uploaded by verified YouTube channel Balitang Pinas, the video has received 91,560 views and 2,600 likes. Netizens also shared the link on Facebook.
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