The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) officially launched on Friday (August 4) its #SaTrueLang anti-fake news campaign in response to the call of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr to strengthen the government’s efforts in countering misinformation in the country.

“Fake news should have no place in modern society,” President Marcos said in his statement during the International Conference of Information Commissioners in June.

During its launch at the DSWD Weekend Report Live, Assistant Secretary Romel Lopez and Director Aldrine Fermin presented to the netizens and the public the department’s official anti-fake news campaign video.

Dubbed as #SaTrueLang, the campaign aims to protect the clients and the general public from any misleading content and information proliferating online, according to Asst. Secretary Lopez, who is also the DSWD spokesperson, “Marami sa ating mga kliyente, maging ang publiko, ay madalas nahihirapang tukuyin kung ang impormasyon na kanilang nakukuha online o sa kapitbahay ay legit ba o hindi,” Asst. Secretary Lopez said.

(Many of our clients, and even the general public, have difficulty in determining if the information they get from online and neighbors is legit or not.)

As part of the campaign, Director Fermin noted that the DSWD will lead and participate in various information caravans, where face-to-face orientation on how to counter fake news and identify legitimate and fake contents will be conducted for the participants.

“Magsasagawa tayo ng fact-checking sa online upang magbigay ng babala sa publiko ukol sa mga kumakalat na fake news o kaya ay mga maling content,” Director Fermin said.

(We will do fact-checking online to warn and remind the public against false information or misleading content.)

Director Fermin reminded the public to only seek information from the official communication channels of the DSWD including its social media sites and website to avoid confusion.

Asst. Secretary Lopez, meanwhile, encouraged the citizens to report to the DSWD any false information and suspicious content they encounter on social media platforms.

“Sabay-sabay tayong magbantay para lahat tayo #SaTrueLang! Ugaliing magtanong, mag-imbestiga at maging mapanuri upang hindi maging biktima,” the Asst. Secretary said.

(Let us all join hands to achieve the goals of #SaTrueLang. Let us practice to ask questions, investigate and be critical so as not to become a victim of false information.)

Spearheaded by the Social Marketing Service, the DSWD’s official communication arm, the #SaTrueLang campaign aims to empower the vulnerable sectors to become instruments in countering fake news.

The DSWD, through its anti-fake news campaign, sends a strong message that it does not tolerate fake news while it also tries to capacitate its clientele to rely on true and reliable sources, as envisioned by the Marcos administration. #