MANILA, Philippines — The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with leading newspaper companies to help ramp up its campaign against misinformation and disinformation. In a ceremony at the Presidential Broadcast Service (PBS) Studio in Malacañang, the ceremonial signing gathered officials of the PCO, led by Secretary Dave Gomez, and top management from The Manila Times, Manila Bulletin, Philippine Star, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila Standard, Malaya Business Insight, Business World, Business World, and Daily Tribune. “Disinformation thrives in darkness — in confusion, in distortion, in deliberate deceit. But truth has always been like daylight. And just as a magnifying glass focuses sunlight to reveal what is hidden, this collaboration concentrates the light of verified information, sharpening clarity and exposing falsehoods. In shining that light, we dispel the shadows where fake news attempts to hide,” Gomez said. Among the key objectives are enhancing the dissemination of verified information, strengthening public trust in credible media institutions, promoting media and information literacy, and enabling coordinated and rapid responses to disinformation during crises, emergencies, and disasters. By forging an agreement with the “nation’s most credible and respected news organizations,” Gomez vowed “to open communication channels for verifying social media claims, exercising prudence to curb the spread of fabricated content.” “And we will join forces on media literacy initiatives, empowering Filipinos to discern fact from fiction,” he said. For her part, The Manila Times CEO Anna Marie Ang-Thompson pledged the company’s “logistical might to ensure that the public will have a beacon of verified, actionable, and life-saving information” that the public can trust. “We all share a common reality: Our ink is only as strong as the public’s trust in it,” she said. “May this cooperation serve the people by ensuring that facts remain the foundation of our national conversation,” she added.