Proposed college subject on disinformation needs more study — Escudero

MANILA, Philippines — A senator said that a proposed subject for higher education units that would teach students to combat disinformation should be up for further discussion.

Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero said in a radio interview that while the proposal of a Media and Information Literacy (MIL) against Disinformation subject at the tertiary level was a good suggestion, the government should not rush to include it in the present curriculum.

“Para sa akin magandang suhestyon pero ‘wag naman sila agad maglagay ng karagdagang subject na naman sa curriculum. Hindi naman ganoon kadali ‘yun, at hindi naman lahat ay interesado diyan,” Escudero said.

(For me, it’s a good suggestion but they should not rush in adding an extra subject in the curriculum as it’s not that easy, and not all are interested in that.)

Escudero also recommended that the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) be involved in the campaign against misinformation and disinformation, as it was rampant on social media platforms.

“Ang siguro pwede kong imungkahi, dapat nilang isama ang DICT dahil lumalaganap mis- at disinformation sa iba’t-ibang social media platforms at hindi naman sa traditional media na kinagisnan natin na print, radio, at TV,” Escudero added.

(I can recommend that they include the DICT in the campaign versus misinformation and disinformation as they spread in various social media platforms, and not in the traditional media that we are used to, such as print, radio, and television.)

The MIL subject is currently being taught as a core subject in senior high school, as part of the K-12 curriculum.

On Saturday, the Marcos administration launched an MIL campaign in a bid to fight misinformation and disinformation, spanning multiple agencies such as the Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education, Department of the Interior and Local Government, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

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