| schema:text
| - SUMMARY
This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.
Claim: The Social Security System (SSS) announced a P5,000 increase in the pensions of Filipino senior citizens.
Rating: FALSE
Why we fact-checked this: The video bearing the claim currently has 146,872 views, 1,855 comments, and 2,700 likes as of writing. It was posted on November 17 by a YouTube channel with over 18,000 subscribers.
The video’s title says: “SSS announces it: P5000 pension increase + early release for Filipino seniors this November!” Images of supposed promotional materials were shown throughout the video as the narrator detailed the SSS’s alleged announcement of the pension increase.
The facts: The SSS has not announced any pension increase for senior citizens on its website or official social media channels.
Its latest announcement related to pensions, posted on its Facebook page on November 28, was about the simultaneous release of 13th month and December pensions on December 1 for those whose pensions are credited on the first day of the month, and December 4 for those whose pensions are credited on the 16th day of the month.
AI-generated: The supposed promotional materials from SSS are fake, based on the analyses of AI image detection tools.
Hive Moderation tagged the images used in the video as highly likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content, with probability scores ranging from 61.8% to 99.6%. AI detector tool Is it AI? also flagged some of the images as “highly likely” to be AI-generated, with a probability score of 81%.
Analysis from TrueMedia.org revealed that the YouTube video contained “substantial evidence of manipulation” through voice and face generation.
“The transcript appears to be a scripted promotional piece rather than a real spoken audio. The language is highly polished and structured…The tone is promotional and enthusiastic…which suggests it is designed to inform and persuade rather than reflect a spontaneous conversation,” the analysis said.
Additionally, the images used throughout the video contained numerous grammatical errors and inconsistent alphanumeric characters and currency symbols, with some photos using symbols for the euro, UK pound, Japanese yen, and US dollars, among others.
SSS pensions: Retired SSS members who have paid at least 120 monthly contributions prior to the semester of retirement are eligible to receive a lifetime cash benefit monthly.
In August 2024, the SSS said members who paid the minimum monthly premium for 10 years would receive a lifetime pension of about P2,200 monthly, while those who paid lower monthly premiums would receive lower benefits.
There have been no updates regarding a potential pension increase. The last reported update was in March 2023, when the SSS management said it was studying a possible P1,000 pension increase.
Previous fact-checks: Rappler has published several fact-checks related to SSS:
- FACT CHECK: SSS has no ongoing scholarship program
- False: SSS ‘exclusively for Filipino citizens’
- FACT CHECK: No schedule yet for the release of SSS pensioners’ 13th-month pay
- FALSE: Duterte ‘signs a law granting SSS members P50,000 bonuses’
- FALSE: SSS ‘approves P20,000 aid for every member’ due to coronavirus
- FACT CHECK: Indigent seniors to get P1,000 monthly pension, not P2,000
For credible updates, refer to the official website and Facebook page of SSS. – Barbra Althea Gavilan/Rappler.com
Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.
Barbra Althea Gavilan is a graduate of Rappler’s volunteer program. She is a fourth year Journalism student at the University of Santo Tomas. This fact-check was reviewed by a member of Rappler’s research team and a senior editor. Learn more about Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program here.
Add a comment
How does this make you feel?
There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)