黑料社

Updated @ 3:59 p.m., March 24, 2025

MANILA, Philippines 鈥� The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has a list of 20 vloggers and is tracking the funding sources for spreading fake news that target government officials, exacerbating political tensions, Director Jaime Santiago said Monday.

A common theme runs through in the kind of disinformation being circulated, raising suspicions of coordinated efforts, Santiago told reporters after the graduation ceremony at the NBI Academy.

鈥淲e are looking at why they are increasing in number. Why does it seem that they have only one theme 鈥� riding on the disturbances in our political atmosphere? This should not happen. Our country is in trouble. Citizens will be confused,鈥� Santiago said in Filipino.

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鈥淲e have a list of these vloggers spreading fake news,鈥� Santiago said.

Asked how many were on the list, he said 20.

Beyond fake news spreaders

Santiago added that the investigation would extend beyond identifying individual spreaders, focusing on uncovering potential financial backers.

鈥淲e are looking into whether they have someone leading them,鈥� he said, indicating a probe into possible funding sources behind the coordinated disinformation campaigns.

Recognizing the issue鈥檚 complexity, Santiago said the NBI would collaborate with other government agencies to combat the spread of fake news.

鈥淟ast week, we had a meeting with the DICT [Department of Information and Communications Technology] and the NTC [National Telecommunications Commission] to discuss how we can once and for all stop these fake news spreaders, bloggers, and content creators,鈥� he said in Filipino.

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Jurisdiction issue

One significant challenge that Santiago highlighted is the issue of jurisdiction, mainly when vloggers and content creators are based overseas.

鈥淚n the US, for example, libel is a civil case, not a criminal one. So, if a blogger is a US citizen, how can we enforce our laws on their citizens, especially when their laws differ from ours?鈥� he explained.

But he said they were exploring all avenues.

鈥淲e are looking at all angles. For example, they could be inciting to sedition, which is a crime in the US and here. We are also looking into tax evasion,鈥� he added, citing the Al Capone case as an example of pursuing criminals through financial irregularities.

Santiago added that extradition would also be viable, and the NBI could request assistance from Interpol.

On question of suppressing freedom of speech, Santiago said: 鈥淥k lang yan鈥揻reedom of speech, freedom of expression pero pagka lumampas na sa hangganan, nakakakomit na sila ng inciting to sedition, libel, kailangan sawatahin natin yan.鈥�

鈥淔reedom of speech, freedom of expression 鈥� that鈥檚 okay. However, when it crosses the line and becomes inciting to sedition or libel, we need to stop it,鈥� he said.