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EJ Macababbad - The Philippine Star
March 23, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The National Bureau of Investigation on Friday urged journalists to file cases against peddlers of fake news.
NBI director Jaime Santiago said his office would target online personalities disseminating altered content from media outlets.
“The reports from legitimate television stations and reporters are being altered and distorted,” Santiago told reporters.
NBI recently apprehended Cebu-based content creator Wendilyn Magalso for editing a News5 art card featuring President Marcos’ statement to make it appear that he favors legitimizing narcotics.
The original statement posted by News5 was Marcos’ speech during the March 14 Tacloban sortie of the administration senatorial slate for the midterm elections, where the President reiterated that violence is not the solution to combat the flow of illegal drugs, a subtle jab at his predecessor, former president Rodrigo Duterte, who initiated a violent drug war that led to his arrest, ordered by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Magalso superimposed a different text – filled with misspellings – claiming that Marcos said Congress should pass legislation to legalize drugs in the Philippines.
The content creator, appearing emotional via Zoom, admitted that she posted the altered art card to generate engagement and monetize her content, earning less than one dollar per post.
Santiago said Facebook and TikTok are cooperating with the NBI to pursue fake news peddlers.
Earlier this week, the bureau revealed that it has been monitoring about 20 vloggers allegedly spreading false information online, with two already facing arrest.
Cognitive warfare
With the upcoming elections, an international relations expert warned of increasing disinformation on social media as part of a “cognitive warfare.”
“The goal is to demoralize and create division,” Renato de Castro of the De La Salle University said at a news forum in Quezon City.
“We see these vloggers as individuals. The question is, who’s behind them? What drives their focus on vlogging? They might also be part of a cognitive warfare, especially in light of our issues concerning the West Philippine Sea,” he said.
“We cannot discount politics. We cannot discount the fact that there is a strategy involved. There is malice; they are backed by a state actor with resources and strategic mindset,” De Castro pointed out.
Celine Samson, head of the online verification team at VERA Files, told The STAR that fake news peddlers are on overdrive since the government handed Duterte over to the ICC, attaching fake quotes to prominent figures and attempting to discredit the international tribunal.
Tsek.ph – a fact-checking consortium of 24 media, academic and civil society partners, which first emerged in 2019 and was relaunched this February – reported that nearly a quarter of over 125 articles curated from partners last week involved correcting misleading claims regarding Duterte’s arrest.
Digital council
During the continuation of the House tri-committee hearing, Bataan Rep. Geraldine Roman suggested that a Digital Council of the Philippines be created to regulate content creators and combat misinformation.
Roman proposed that content creators form a self-regulatory body similar to the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas and the Ad Standards Council, stressing that freedom of expression is not absolute.
The body would be composed of content creators, advertisers, the Department of Information and Communications Technology, academe and public relations practitioners.
She added that its main functions would include education, leveling up content standards and addressing fake news complaints.
Journalist and social media personality Krizzette Laureta-Chu, who was grilled at the House probe for posting a series of false information in the wake Duterte’s arrest, supported the idea.
“But we just need to know what we consider massive following. Because the problem here is likes can be bought, the following can be bought,” she said.
The discussion also touched on a possible registry for content creators, which Chu supported as long as it does not violate free speech.
“Nobody should be able to regulate free speech because it is in our Constitution,” she noted.
Roman clarified that the goal is not to stifle expression but to ensure accountability.
“I fully realize that in order for the state to exercise its function, to protect public interest while responding and recognizing the basic right to freedom of expression, we always have to look for the least restrictive means,” Roman said. — Jose Rodel Clapano
