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MAD said “disinformation thrives when claims are amplified faster than facts, when doubt is dismissed rather than examined, and when scrutiny is framed as hostility.”
“The more we speak, the more they target us,” Sheerah Escudero, sister of drug war victim Ephraim Escudero, told Bulatlat in Filipino. “Even the dead were not spared. They tell me, ‘How about the victims of drug addicts like your brother?’”
“Critical thinking and media and information literacy would do more against ‘fake news’ than allowing the bureaucracy to decide what is fake and what isn’t.”
A movement has already emerged which aims to counter the nefarious impact of disinformation. It reflects the clamor of the people to make elections and governance more transparent by ensuring that people can readily access accurate and credible information.
“We want to bring out a strong statement in defense of historical truth against the unrelenting efforts to revise the historical record of plunder and human rights violations during Martial Law and the entire Marcos era. We also commit ourselves to defend the exercise of academic freedom, resist all forms of censorship such as book-banning, and oppose all attempts at red-tagging."
Historian Francis Gealogo hopes that his TikTok videos will not only remind people of bits and pieces of facts in Philippine history but also its continuing relevance.
A heavy dose of conspiracy theory, denial of human rights violations during the Marcos dictatorship and casting of democracy icon President Corazon Aquino as villain were among the scores of martial law and Edsa-1 related disinformation debunked by Tsek.ph.
The conference aims to deepen the discourse about the martial law years and correct the twisted narratives being perpetrated by groups who want Filipinos to forget those dark years in the nation's history.
Labor group Defend Coca-Cola Workers reported cases of harassment against as early as January of this year, when Coca-Cola management brought workers to Fort Sto. Domingo, Santa Rosa, and Camp Vicente Lim, Calamba, for anti-union seminars.
"The Duterte administration utilizes 'fake news' as a tool to silence dissent by spreading lies using an army of trolls, to present ‘alternative facts’ and justify the repressive policies and programs of the government."
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