3 weeks ago
16
Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!
Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.
Visit Suniway.ph to learn
Helen Flores - The Philippine Star
March 5, 2026 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine STAR and eight other major broadsheets in the country have joined the government’s “Oplan Kontra Fake News” to protect the public from the harmful effects of disinformation.
Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Secretary Dave Gomez yesterday signed an agreement with top executives of The STAR, Business Mirror, BusinessWorld, Daily Tribune, Malaya Business Insight, Manila Bulletin, Manila Standard, Philippine Daily Inquirer and The Manila Times.
Signing on behalf of their respective publications were The STAR senior vice president Teresa Mendoza, Business Mirror publisher T. Anthony Cabangon, BusinessWorld associate editor Arjay Balinbin, Malaya Business Insight publisher and chairman Allen Macasaet, Manila Bulletin publisher Herminio Coloma Jr., Manila Standard publisher Rolando Estabillo, Philippine Daily Inquirer president and chief executive officer Paolo Prieto and The Manila Times chief executive officer Anna Marie Ang-Thompson.
Under the agreement, the PCO and its media partners commit to opening clear communication channels for verifying social media claims and exercising prudence to curb the spread of fabricated content.
The partnership will advance media and information literacy initiatives to empower Filipinos to discern fact from fiction.
Gomez cited the establishment of an anti-fake news desk, a dedicated mechanism where its partners and the public can report suspicious or misleading content.
Reports will be evaluated and referred to appropriate agencies, including the Department of Information and Communications Technology and Department of Justice, Gomez said.The PCO works with digital platforms, such as Meta and Google, in addressing coordinated disinformation campaigns and promoting accountability in the digital space, he noted.
Fake news is defined by the agreement as content that “has no factual basis or is materially misleading, but is presented as truthful.”
“It is deliberately created or shared to deceive… (and) is capable of causing identifiable public harm such as panic, violence, reputational damage, or interference in democratic processes,” it read.?
In his speech during the signing ceremony at Malacañang, Gomez said the truth “has always been like daylight. And just as a magnifying glass focuses sunlight to reveal what is hidden, this collaboration concentrates the light of verified information, sharpening clarity and exposing falsehoods. In shining that light, we dispel the shadows where fake news attempts to hide.”
