The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) has stressed the need for additional resources to finance the implementation of its key programs, particularly the media and information literacy program that aims to combat fake news.

Presidential Communications Secretary Cheloy Garafil explained the reason behind her office's request for additional funding during the PCO budget hearing of the Committee on Appropriations at the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Aug. 28.

The PCO is asking for an additional P365 million in its proposed 2024 budget to fund its programs and operations.

Garafil said that the PCO submitted a budget request of almost P920 million to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) but only P495 million was approved under the 2024 National Expenditure Program (NEP).

“In as much as the PCO remains committed to fulfilling our mission and exercising our mandate, we earnestly hope that the committee will consider our tier 2 proposals which essentially covers the operations, activities and projects of our new media clusters,” Garafil said.

“We also emphasize that our NEP level for 2024 is lower than its allotment in previous years. This (is) despite the fact that our new mandate is now expanded and that the PCO now has more projects being implemented pursuant to EO (Executive Order) 16,” she added.

EO 16 reorganized the PCO to rationalize and consolidate the functions of the communications arm of the executive branch, particularly the Office of the President (OP).

Garafil is pushing for budget allocation for the tier 2 proposals that included the media and information literacy (MIL) campaign project to combat fake news, misinformation, and disinformation online. In partnership with other government agencies, the PCO under the MIL program will develop a comprehensive plan to address the root cause of disinformation.

The PCO is proposing P19 million for the MIL campaign which will start in October.

Garafil also cited the launch of the MIL Campaign and the media coverage of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.’s foreign travels and local engagements as among the biggest achievements of the agency to date.

She made the pitch in reply to the question posed by Senior Deputy Minority Leader Northern Samar Rep. Paul Ruiz Daza in asking for the highest achievement made by the PCO this year.

According to PCO Undersecretary Emerald Ridao, the MIL campaign, which was launched this month, will kick off through MIL Summit where partners in the private sector, namely Google, Meta for Facebook and IG, Tiktok, and X, formerly Twitter, will be collaborating with the administration to run workshops for youth organizations, teachers, and other relevant sectors.

The summit, she said, aims to "impart the ways that we can enhance media literacy for our youth as well as the ways that each of our citizens can take responsibility in their role and the dissemination of misinformation."

"In addition to that, we will also be doing a campus caravan. This is scheduled throughout the year...Round the clock, we will also be doing two types of programs. First is training the trainers. This is to enhance the capacity of the teachers who are running the modules, the MIL modules at higher education institution levels. This is to just add — currently there already is an MIL module at high school and senior high school levels,” Ridao explained.