Campaigning for the elections will take a rest on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday as written in the poll rules.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) had called the suspension in campaigning during those days of Holy Week as the “quiet period,” a time for candidates and voters to reflect on the passion of Christ. But, expect the noise to grow louder and the situation to get messier when campaigning resumes after Easter.
It’s not out of any penitential reflection; it is likely because past Easter would mean there will be only three weeks before voters line up to their precincts on May 9, 2022. Expect more of the political dirty tricks after Easter, in particular the disinformation on social media meant to deceive people to go for or against a candidate.
Supporters of Vice President Leni Robredo, who is running for President, said they received information that the camp of rival Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son of dictator Ferdinand Sr., will target Robredo and her daughters in heightened black propaganda campaigns after Easter. It is not surprising since fact-checking groups have said the disinformation campaigns on social media appear to target Robredo, with Marcos as the beneficiary of positive but misleading messaging. Marcos has denied his camp sponsors troll farms or is responsible for the disinformation against Robredo.
The two prominent fact-checking collaborations in the country are Tsek.ph, an academe-based initiative of VERA Files and 21 academic, media and civil society institutions, and #FactsFirstPH, created by Rappler and supported by over 100 organizations. These two organizations have given tips on how to check information and fight disinformation. They encourage people to develop a fact-checking frame of mind, to check the information they see on platforms.
Rachel Khan, associate dean of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication and coordinator of Tsek.ph, had said of the effort to fight disinformation, “We know that it’s a David and Goliath fight... What we hope is to help put people in a fact-checking state of mind and to build media literacy. That is the long game here, until we get people to be aware of the existence of false information and how they are fooled.”
When you encounter what appears to be false information, check it out. Go to the main source of information. Check news websites or social media accounts of news organizations. SunStar is on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms and also on www.sunstar.com.ph. Newsrooms are not perfect but they are obligated to correct mistakes once these are discovered.
Google is another fact-checking tool. When you see dubious information while commuting or having coffee at the mall, go to Google search or to https://toolbox.google.com/factcheck/. Follow Tsek.ph and #FactsFirstPH on their social accounts and monitor their alerts on false information.
We all have to do our part in this age of disinformation and deception.