Daily Guardian joins #FactsFirstPH Iloilo City roadshow

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

Daily Guardian is one in building communities of action in the fight for facts as it collaborates in the #FactsFirstPH’s inaugural launch of its series of provincial roadshows in Iloilo City today, October 6.

The launch will take place on Friday, October 6, at 9 a.m. in the Training Rooms 1 to 3 of the Graduate and Continuing Education Building at the University of the Philippines (UP) Visayas Iloilo City campus.

The roadshow is pushing to engage local communities in the battle to give facts a larger share of voice in digital platforms.

The Iloilo roadshow is conducted in collaboration with UP Visayas, UP Visayas Division of Humanities, and iWrite.

The roadshow will include a public forum to be headlined by experts and speakers from #FactsFirstPH. Through a series of talks and panel discussions, speakers’ talk will revolve around the vital role various sectors play in building a strong support and distribution system for facts and facts-based conversation around critical issues.

The event will also delve into the crucial role of law in countering disinformation, cultivating mindfulness in information consumption habits, and clarifying the roles and responsibilities of digital citizens, especially in fostering a healthy information ecosystem within communities.

Lawyer John Molo, a UP law professor and member of the board of the Philippine Bar Association, will deliver a plenary talk on the importance of the rule of law and why lawyers and various sectors should be involved in the battle for facts.

Ted Aldwin Ong, vice chair of the Iloilo Media Citizen Council, will discuss the need for collaboration between journalists and communities.

Rappler lead researcher on disinformation and platforms Gemma Mendoza will talk about the online landscape, emerging technologies, and #FactsFirstPH.

A final panel discussion will also take place, focusing on promoting truth online and exploring ways to ensure that only the truth spreads online.

The panelists for this discussion will include Atty. Molo, Mr. Ong, Ms. Mendoza, Atty. May Castillo of the Department of Social Welfare and Development Region 6, and Katherine Valencia, an associate professor at UP Visayas.

The panel discussion will be moderated by Jene-Anne Pangue, Rappler’s senior community and civic engagement specialist.

The media literacy and anti-disinformation network will also introduce “aiDialogue”, an AI-moderated chatroom. The ChatGPT-powered dialogue generator is set to crowdsource inputs from the participants on policies that should govern artificial intelligence platforms.

During the focus group discussion, the aiDialogue named “Rai,” will collect user inputs, synthesize discussions, and propose policy ideas on AI behavior and usage based on participant responses, all while keeping participant identities anonymous.

#FactsFirstPH, a whole-of-nation approach to combat disinformation, established by over 100 Philippine organizations in 2022 — Daily Guardian is part of the movement — aims to foster a healthy information ecosystem that prioritizes facts and encourages nuanced discussions on pressing public matters.