THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) has referred to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) five fake news cases which it said were attempts to undermine the credibility of the forthcoming May 9 polls.
In a virtual press briefing, Elections Commissioner George Garcia said he asked the NBI last week to look into five instances on social media “that were attempts to undermine the integrity and credibility of the electoral process.”
“Expect in the succeeding days or even after the elections, that we will be filing cases against these individuals simply because what they did is wrong,” Garcia said.
The poll official did not identify the particular instances but said one of them is the viral photo of a single ballot that supposedly did not contain the name of one candidate.
Another, he said, were claims that the social media account owners already have access to official ballots ahead of May 9.
Garcia also cited the false claim that there are already votes cast, a proclaimed winner, and available certificates of proclamation and certificates of canvass.
“Information is an oxygen of democracy. That means that, as an oxygen of democracy, information must be truthful. The Comelec will watch everything as far as those untruthful information are concerned,” said Garcia.
He said fake news proliferation is considered a violation of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
Garcia also said fake news peddlers could face election offense charges for providing disinformation to voters.
On the other hand, Garcia assured the public that the Commission will not run after their critics by labeling them as peddlers of “fake news”.
Garcia said they respect the right of speech of everybody, including their critics.
“Don’t be afraid. We are not after commentaries that are against us. You’re free to do that.
It is part of freedom of expression,” he said, adding: “That is part of the guarantee of our democracy. Don’t worry. We are not onion-skinned over criticisms.”
The Comelec has earlier formed a task force against fake news and disinformation to discourage people from spreading false information about the May 9 elections.
