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Jean Mangaluz - Philstar.com
February 25, 2025 | 4:10pm
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro speaks to the media in Malacañan Palace on Feb. 25, 2025.
Philstar.com / Jean Mangaluz
MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Tuesday, February 25, said it would support a measure defining and banning fake news.
One of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s senatorial bets for the 2025 midterm elections, former Senate President Tito Sotto, has said that one of the first bills he wants to file is a measure penalizing fake news.
Newly installed Palace Press Officer Claire Castro has taken a firm stance against fake news, stating that Malacañang would back its prohibition.
“Siguro naman kahit po hindi Palasyo ang tanungin natin, gugustuhin po talaga natin na ma-ban ang fake news,” she said.
(Even if it is not just the Palace you ask, we would really want to ban fake news.)
Castro said she was a resource person at the House of Representatives’ committee hearing on the proliferation of fake news, where she suggested requiring all content creators to register.
However, media practitioners fear that a potential ban on fake news could impede freedom of speech and press freedom.
Castro admitted that the bill would need thorough study.
“We have to define first that there will be a law if they will make such law, they have to define what’s fake news and what’s the limitation, how they can gauge that those statements will be considered as fake news,” she said.
Fake news has no legal definition, Castro said.
Both Castro and Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin have criticized former President Rodrigo Duterte for spreading fake news, particularly regarding his allegations against Marcos.
Most recently, Duterte claimed that Marcos was veering toward a dictatorship and had stolen the country’s gold reserves.
Bersamin called Duterte a “one-man fake news factory.”
Meanwhile, Castro said Duterte would often joke or make statements he did not mean. However, she added that the Palace was taking his accusations seriously.
