By Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos
MANILA – Philippine state media are all set to provide factual news and counter misinformation and disinformation during the conduct of the May 12 national and local elections, Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Secretary Jay Ruiz said Saturday.
This, after he presided over a meeting with heads and staff of the Philippine News Agency, People’s Television Network (PTV), Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine Broadcasting Service and Philippine Information Agency at the PTV office in Quezon City.
Ruiz said state media agencies would serve as “vanguard of truths” during the elections, in line with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s directive to ensure peaceful and fair elections.
“Lahat ng media components sa gobyerno, pinagsama-sama natin dito para sa pinakamalakas, (at) pinakamalawak na coverage dito sa mangyayaring eleksyon sa May 12 (We have gathered here all government media components for the strongest and widest coverage of the upcoming elections on May 12),” he said after the meeting.
“Nandito po ang integrated state media para alamin ang katotohanan… Ito po ang sandigan ng katotohanan. (The integrated state media is here to find out the truth… This is the foundation of truth). We will be the vanguards of truth sa panahon ng eleksyon (during the elections),” he added.
Ruiz said the PCO is also coordinating with the Philippine National Police and the Department of Information and Communications Technology to combat online disinformation.
The Philippine National Police will send a focal person to the integrated media’s central desk at PTV.
Ruiz was also scheduled to go the Commission on Elections office in Intramuros, Manila to discuss further the coverage on Monday, with emphasis on faster election results update and elimination of fake news.
A 24/7 threat monitoring was launched on Friday to protect the integrity of the elections against purveyors of fake news.
“Para pagka may fake news, agad-agad na iti-take down ang mga fake news kasi syempre nakakagulo iyan, lalo na may nagsasabi na may nangyayaring dayaan dito or failure of elections sa isang lugar (So that we can immediately take down any fake news since this will sow confusion, especially with claims that fraud is happening here or there is a failure of elections in a place),” Ruiz added. (PNA)
