CAGAYAN de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez has joined the House of Representatives’ fight against fake news and disinformation by filing a bill seeking to penalize the act with jailtime and hefty fines.
Rodriguez, in filing, House Bill (HB) No. 11506, said the spread of false information “undermines public order or national security.”
“These falsehoods, often disseminated at scale through social media or synthetic content like deepfakes, have the power to incite confusion, manipulate public perception, and provoke civil disorder,” he said.
The veteran lawyer-lawmaker said his bill “seeks to respond to these challenges by criminalizing the deliberate and malicious creation or dissemination of false or misleading information that is presented as fact and causes or is likely to cause public harm.”
HBN 11506 defines “fake news” as “false or misleading information presented as fact or news, deliberately and maliciously disseminated to mislead the public, that may sow confusion, incite hatred or violence, or disrupt public order.”
It said disinformation is false information “intentionally spread to deceive, manipulate, or influence public perception, behavior, or policy.”
The bill enumerates the following as prohibited acts: Knowingly and maliciously publish or disseminate, through any medium including print, broadcast, or digital and social media, any fake news or disinformation; creating, operating, or financing troll farms, bot networks, or coordinated campaigns specifically aimed at spreading fake news; disseminating fake news or disinformation that incites violence, promotes hate speech, discredits democratic institutions, or may cause public panic or disorder; and facilitating or allowing the use of social media platforms or accounts to repeatedly and systematically engage in the conduct described above.
Under the proposed measure, any person found guilty of committing any of the prohibited acts shall suffer imprisonment of six years to 12 years and shall pay a fine of P500,000 to P2 million.
Rodriguez said the spread of fake news, particularly through digital platforms and artificial intelligence, “has emerged as a serious threat to public trust, democratic institutions, and national stability.”
He said existing laws like the Revised Penal Code and Republic Act No. 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act, “do not adequately address the evolving nature and impact of malicious disinformation campaigns.”
“In doing so, the measure aims to protect public order and national security from destabilizing content designed to mislead, manipulate, or incite. It is carefully crafted to withstand constitutional scrutiny by defining fake news narrowly and precisely, requiring proof of both malicious intent and actual or probable public harm,” he said.
Rodriguez said that while the right to freedom of speech, of expression, and of the press is guaranteed under Article III, Section 4 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court held in the 2008 case of Chavez vs. Gonzales that “this right is not absolute.”
“Certain categories of speech – such as obscenity, defamation, incitement to violence, false advertising, and speech that poses a clear and present danger to public order or national security – are not entitled to constitutional protection,” he stressed.
He also said that his proposal excludes satire, parody, personal opinions, honest mistakes, and good-faith reporting from its scope “to avoid infringing upon legitimate speech.”
“By striking a balance between protecting freedom of expression and addressing the dangerous consequences of intentional disinformation, this measure affirms the values of both liberty and responsibility in a modern, democratic society. ln view of the foregoing, the immediate passage of this bill is respectfully urged,” he said.
The House tri committee chaired by outgoing Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez has been investigating vloggers and social media influencers who are being linked to the camp of former president Rodrigo Duterte and the Communist Party of China (CPP).
Just last week, the House appointed lawyer Priscilla Marie “Princess” Abante, a daughter of outgoing Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante, as the official spokesperson for the remainder of the 19th Congress in a bid to step up its fight against fake news and disinformation in the age of social media.
HB No. 11506 is entitled, “An Act penalizing the malicious and deliberate dissemination of false information that undermines public order or national security, strengthening regulations on fake news through digital platforms, and for other purposes.”
