Hoping that his Anti-Fake News bill will gain the support of Congress this time, Sen. Joel Villanueva refiled the measure that seeks to penalize individuals involved in dissemination of false information.

The bill was among the legislative priorities that Villanueva has sought for swift action in the 20th Congress.

Under the bill, penalties will be imposed against persons found guilty of actions that “maliciously offer, publish, distribute, circulate and spread false news or information or cause the publication, distributin, circulation, or spreading of the same in print, broadcast and online media.”

It will recalled that Villanueva filed the bill as early as the 17th Congress, on June 21, 2017 as part of the battle against the spread of misleading and wrong information, especially in the social media.

“Fake news creates impression and beliefs based on false premises leading to division, misunderstanding and further exacerbating otherwise tenuous relations,” he said.

He recalled that in May, 2017, a fake news posted only triggered strong comments from soldiers, thus putting at jeopardy relations in the military.

“This incident is only one of the recent events that illustrates why the proliferation of fake news should not be tolerated and its authors and distributors penalized accordingly, especially whenthe public interest is at stake,” explained the senator.

For a false news or information to become illegal it must be proven to have “cause (d) panic, division, chaos, violence or hate or which exhibit(s) or tend(s) to exhibit a propaganda to blacken or discredit one’s reputation and the person knowingly commits such act with full knowledge that such news or information is false, or with reasonable grounds to believe that the same is false.”

Under the bill violators will face up to five years imprisonment and a maximum PhP5 million fine.

Persons found guilty of aiding or abetting the spread of bogus news may be imprisoned for a maximum of three years and penalized with a PhP3 million fine.

Officers or owners of mass media enterprise or social media platform that will fail or refuse to remove false news or information within a reasonable period will be liable to a maximum 20 years jail term and a fine ranging from Php10 million to PhP20 million.