Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile believes that the constitutional right to freedom of expression relies on truthful information to inform the public and not to manipulate them.

Enrile said this amid concerns about infringement on the right to freedom of expression following the recent hearings on the spread of fake news online amid the election period.

In a Facebook post on Sunday, March 23, the former senate president said social media freedom of expression should be based on factual information.

"My understanding of the right to guaranteed freedom of free expression in the Bill of Rights is that it is underpinned with truthful information so that our unknowing people are made aware of events or happenings in our social community so that our people can make the right decisions on matters that affect them, instead of being manipulated to serve the interest of others," he said.

With this, Enrile said social media users should take extra caution when sharing information online or risk causing disorder in the country.

"I would like to believe that social media practitioners are intelligent and rational enough to exercise utmost care and caution to disseminate to the public only well-confirmed information so as not to mislead the unknowing people with fictitious or invented facts," he said.

"Social media practitioners in our country should not consider their new-found toolkit as a license to disseminate made-up or invented information. Otherwise, we develop an anarchic information system and disorderly society," he added.

On Friday, March 21, Communications Secretary Jay Ruiz lamented that the nation is being divided by online misinformation, disinformation, and fake news.

"What is happening to us right now is we are being polarized, being divided online. Filipinos are being pitted against Filipinos," Ruiz told the House Tri-Committee hearing on malicious and fake online content.

"Lies, repeated a thousand times, become the truth. We have to fight lies with truth. The voice of truth should be louder than lies," he added.