A fake advisory is circulating on Facebook (FB) and private messaging platforms that states senior citizens will start receiving P1,000 per month as pension starting this March.
The National Commission of Senior Citizens (NSCS) in a Feb. 28 press statement called this announcement “fake” and said it “distorts” news about state aid for seniors.
The false message, which started making the rounds on Feb. 27, read:
“National Commission of Senior Citizen (NCSC) R.A. 11350. All Senior Citizen pensioner or nonpensioner will receive 1k per month or 3k every 3months (sic) under the NCSC and Office of the Senior Citizens Affair no longer under DSWD but under NCSC. Register online ncsc.gov.ph The 1k monthly pension will take effect on March 2023.”
The NSCS said Republic Act (RA) 11916, which lapsed into law on July 30, 2022, mandates that indigent senior citizens would be entitled to a P1,000 monthly stipend. However, the Department of Budget and Management and the National Treasury has yet to allocate funds for it.
“At present, only selected indigent senior citizens numbering around 4.1 million out of the total 12.2 million are receiving PHP500 social pension per month but that will soon be doubled by virtue of RA 11916 after it gets the funding from DBM,” the agency said.
The NSCS also clarified that the Department of Social Welfare and Development has yet to fully transfer all its senior citizen-related functions and duties to the NSCS, which should take effect within three years.
The false text post emerged a week after Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian warned scammers who target and deceive senior citizens and said the department will make sure to track them down.
At least 26 FB groups and pages have shared the false message according to social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle, collectively garnering over 1,300 interactions.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)