The Philippines’ socio-political landscape reportedly struggles with fake news and misinformation
Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan. (Photo by Karl Romano/ UCAN files)
A senior Catholic archbishop in the Philippines has urged Catholics to campaign against misinformation and fake news in the Catholic-majority country, which he said faces a “pandemic of lies.”
Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas of Lingayen Dagupan asked Catholics to unite in a “campaign for the cultivation of a culture of critical thinking and rational examination.”
“We know that there are elements hell-bent on peddling lies, distortions of fact and falsehood,” Archbishop Villegas said in a Jan. 1 press release, urging his people to ask critical questions, inquiring into the source of announcements, posts, articles and blogs to “withstand the onslaught of this barrage of fake news and lies.”
In the current Philippines society, it has become difficult “in sifting truth from lies and falsehood, because there are so many who have developed the stealth art of presenting falsehood as truth, of re-writing history, of harnessing the power of social media for the spread of disinformation,” Archbishop Villegas said.
“Lies, falsehood, fake news, disinformation have permeated all elements of Philippine society. ..Slander and calumny against the reputation and good name of others have become commonplace and, sadly, an accepted fact of national life.
“Government announcements are sometimes misleading and fall short of the demand that it be transparent at all times to citizens. Businesses falsify their books of accounts in order to evade the payment of taxes and duties,” said the archbishop’s press release.
The socio-political landscape in the Philippines is rife with fake news and misinformation, which often target the Church too.
During the national presidential elections last May, several candidates expressed concern about the possibility of fake news and misinformation campaign influencing the election result.
Presidential candidate Leni Robredo in an interview with a television channel said she initially decided to ignore the problem of fake news but it “did not work.”
Robredo lost to Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the son of the former dictator.
Earlier in December 2022, a fake Catholic foundation circulated solicitation letters online seeking to raise funds to provide Christmas gifts for the poor.
Fraudsters had created fake banking accounts in the name of the Saint Vincent de Paul group, Saint Padre Pio charity group, and the Franciscans and solicited funds through emails and text messages.
In 2019, Catholic media workers from across the Philippines met to discuss strategies to spread church teachings and how to counter the spread of “fake news” especially among the youth in an event organized by the bishops’ Episcopal Commission on Social Communications.
In 2018, Archbishop Romulo Valles of Davao was dragged into controversy when an online post circulated on social media with a warning from the prelate to priests and nuns “not to interact with politicians.”
The archdiocese later rejected the spurious posts that circulated on Facebook and other social media sites.
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