Senator Risa Hontiveros has been a victim of fake news a few times in the past and it seems like another hoax has picked her as a subject as articles surfaced online about how she allegedly wants to raise the senior citizen age qualification to 65 years old.
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The said story has been shared thousands of times on Facebook as it was shared by Duterte fan pages such as “President Duterte Supporters,” “Tatay Digong,” and “PRRD – the Greatest,” among others.
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The story was also picked up by blogs like globalnews.favradio.fm, whose link has been shared almost 17,000 times, pinoythinking.online, and ilikeyouquotes.blogspot.com.
Even talent manager Ogie Diaz posted a reaction to the video, telling Hontiveros to properly research what bills she should pass and asking her to instead push for the lowering of the age qualification for Filipino senior citizens to 55 instead of 60. However, Diaz later removed his post.
We traced the origin of the story to the fake news site okd2.com. According to the story, Hontiveros filed a bill that would increase the age qualification of senior citizens from the current 60 to 65, something that would affect 137,000 incoming seniors in the next five years, as per the Philippine Statistics Office. The article also noted how the bill would likely be “scrapped” during the Senate hearing and how it was deemed by rights groups as “inhuman.”
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Okd2.com also quoted a certain “Att. Rafael Absalon of Seniors of the Future,” who condemned Hontiveros’ supposed Senate bill by saying: “Yong bill ni Senator Hontiveros ay halatang hindi pinag-isipan. Ang mga matatanda ay dapat ngang kaawann. Hindi naming maintindihan kung ano ang dahilan at ginawa ni Sen. Hontiveros ang ganyang bagay.”
A draft of the senator’s bill reportedly said:
“People are just getting government’s money while still working.”
“The government should invest more on young people instead of nursing older generations. Young people should be aware about Martial Law atrocities so the mistake will not be repeated.”
However, Okd2.com’s claims are made up!
Hontiveros is pushing for the youth to become more aware about what happened during Martial Law, even donating history books about it and passing a Joint Resolution to declare September as “national truth-telling month” on Martial Law.
However, she did not pass a Senate bill to raise the age qualification for Filipino seniors to 65. In fact, during the campaign, she promised to push for the implementation of the law that makes senior citizens automatic PhilHealth members.
As its About page has said, Okd2.com may publish “fiction” for its readers’ entertainment in very rare cases. But we have busted a lot of fake stories from this site, including a few about Hontiveros, such as Hontiveros seeking salary increase for protesters, going on hunger strike over Marcos’ burial, and attempting to remove Marcos’ name from Philippine history books. Recently, we also busted Okd2.com stories, such as the supposed backstory behind Jim Paredes’ hatred of Duterte, surrender of an NPA commander and 121 other rebels, and graft charges filed against PNoy, Mar Roxas, and Dinky Soliman on international court.
If you read something that originated from okd2.com, it would be better to verify the story by looking at several sources first. The website has a habit of mixing up genuine news with fiction, making it hard for many readers to recognize that they are already consuming fake news.
Sources: ( facebook.com , rappler.com )
Be Informed. Beat the Trolls, Share the Truth!
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