House Committee on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Chairman Camarines Sur 5th district Rep. Migz Villafuerte hailed the Presidential Communications Office's (PCO) recent launch of its "Oplan Kontra Fake News" campaign, which he said would boost the government’s fight against misinformation.

Villafuerte said the PCO’s move to seal a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with nine broadsheets in the country “will go a long way in beefing up efforts by the government and the private sector to check fake news that are intentionally being passed off to the public by interest or partisan groups as legitimate reportage".

"We hope the PCO will be relentless in broadening this initiative by engaging many other institutions in legacy media and going ahead on its plan to coordinate with digital platforms such as Meta and Google in pursuit of a unified drive against disinformation and misinformation that are undermining public discernment of what are legitimate or fake news,” said the Bicolano.

The Manila Bulletin was among the nine major dailies that inked the MOU during the recent launch of Oplan Kontra Fake News at the Kalayaan Hall in Malacañang.

For Congress to do its part in this campaign, Villafuerte said the ICT and public information committees of the House have formed a technical working group (TWG) to hammer out a substitute bill on the proposed ‘Fake News and Digital Disinformation Act” from the over 10 filed measures that aim to outlaw fake news.

Villafuerte says the substitute bill aims to “[strike] a balance between outlawing fake news and upholding the democratic tenet of free speech".

“Alongside imposing punitive action against peddlers of disinformation or misinformation, this proposed anti-fake news bill is also about fostering an environment where truth prevails, and trust in our sources of legitimate information is enhanced or restored,” he said.

Among the 10 measures is House Bill (HB) No. 6314, which Villafuerte authored with four more congressmen.

“The proliferation of fake news and disinformation across media platforms, especially social media (socmed), has dramatically impacted the socio-political landscape of communication, security, elections, public health and democracy worldwide,” rhe particular measure read.

Villafuerte recently co-presided over a joint hearing as ICT panel chairman, with Parañaque City 2nd district Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan as vice chairman of the Committee on Public Information.

In a 2025 survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS), the bill said that 65 percent of Filipinos admitted they found it difficult to distinguish fake from real news, while 59 percent saw disinformation on the internet as a “serious” issue.