By Paulo Loreto Lim

During a recent local radio interview, Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar urged the public to support the call for an investigation into supposed “fake news.”
He said those publishing fraudulent information need to “look at what is good in society” and to see it in “a bigger picture.”
Andanar explained in prior interviews, the first step is to identify the fake news outlets and then look into the cause.
“If it is inaccurate information from legitimate media organization, perhaps the reason is shortcomings in the workflow and procedure,” he earlier pointed out.
Last month, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) released the names of websites they believe carries fake news, many of them being “pro-Duterte” sites.
Senator Grace Poe earlier called for a congressional inquiry into fake news; while Senator Joel Villanueva filed Senate Bill 1492, or An Act Penalizing the Malicious Distribution of False News and Other Related Violations, back on June 21.
The senator’s bill would fine perpetrators P100,000 to P5 million and sentence them to a jail sentence between one and five years./WDJ