A senator stressed the need to strengthen the fight against fake news and ramp up quality education efforts to keep Filipinos, especially our youth, fully aware of the issues hounding the country.

This was emphasized by Sen. Bam Aquino as he expressed concern over the survey that ranked the Philippines third among countries “most ignorant” on their nation’s key issues, based on a study by news website Indy100.

The survey also ranked Filipinos third among those most confident, despite giving inaccurate answers. South Africa topped the survey while Brazil ranked second. In 2016, the Philippines ranked 16th in the survey participated in by 38 countries.

“Clearly, we need to strengthen quality education and launch a solid attack on disinformation and fake news,” said Sen. Bam.

“Maraming Pilipino ang nalilito sa datos at hindi na nakikilala ang katotohanan. This is even more distressing when we consider how Filipinos resort to threats and hate speech online instead of reasonably discussing opposing views,” added Sen. Bam.

Sen. Bam said that the survey should be a lesson in humility for all Filipinos, saying we should check our facts and genuinely listen to one another instead of turning hostile.

During his stint as chairman of the Committee on Education, Sen. Bam conducted a hearing on the responsible use of social media in schools to fight spread of fake news on social media.

In the said hearing, Sen. Bam urged different stakeholders, led by the Department of Education (DepEd), to join forces in combating rampant trolling and spread of misinformation on social media.

Sen. Bam has also urged the Philippine Communications Operations Office (PCOO) to seriously tackle the problem of online disinformation and fake news sites during the recent fake news hearing at the Senate.

Sen. Bam is the principal sponsor of the free college law and is an advocate for access to quality education in the Philippines.