MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said it would go after those who post disinformation online, or who send text messaging scams, deceiving unsuspecting senior citizens.

“They’re trying to victimize senior citizens because they’re not tech savvy,” Assistant Secretary Romel Lopez, DSWD’s spokesperson, told Rappler in a phone interview on Wednesday, March 1. 

“That’s the marching order of the secretary. Secretary Rex Gatchalian made it clear to us, the officials and employees of the DSWD, that we will go after these individuals,” Lopez said.

“That’s why we’re warning them, we’ve been coordinating with other agencies such as the PNP, NBI and DICT to come up with a plan to counter this. And of course, to pinpoint those responsible for this modus operandi,” he added. “We want to catch them. We want to file a case against them. So that we stop the proliferation of these kinds of activities,” the DSWD spokesperson said. 

Lopez was reacting to a February 28 statement of the National Commission on Senior Citizens (NCSC) correcting disinformation over the distribution of social pension benefits for indigent (low-income) senior citizens.

The NCSC, without specifying which page, said a Facebook page claimed that senior citizens would receive P1,000 a month, or P3,000 per quarter, under the NCSC, and no longer under the DSWD.

The current social pension program is administered by the DSWD regional offices that gives indigent senior citizens an allowance of P500 a month, paid out at P3,000 twice a year.

“There are three points we want to clarify and disabuse in the minds of senior citizens. First, it is not true that non-pensioners will also receive P1k a month, because Republic Act 9994 (Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010) which provides or gives senior citizens social pensions only to indigent senior citizens is not yet amended,” NCSC Commissioner Reymar Mansilungan said in a video statement posted on their website. 

They clarified that it was also not true that the assistance would be increased to P1,000 a month just yet.

Although there is an amendment to the law passed in 2022, Republic Act 11916 (An Act Increasing the Social Pension of Indigent Senior Citizens),  that increased the amount to P1,000, the law only took effect after the 2023 budget was already submitted to Congress. 

Mansilungan added that the post also erroneously said that the Office of Senior Citizen Affairs (OSCA) will be transferred to the NCSC.

“OSCA is under the LGU. Therefore, OSCA shall remain under the LGU,” Mansilungan said.

Last January 2022, the DSWD reported text scams being circulated to senior citizens falsely telling recipients that they were eligible for unclaimed COVID-19 benefits.

Lopez urged senior citizens and their families to validate information directly with their barangays, local government units, or directly with the DSWD. – Rappler.com 

DSWD’s information hotlines are: 8931-8901 Local 10125 and local 10157 
They can email the socialpension@dswd.gov.ph and aoc@dswd.gov.ph