UPV Language Program, IPO teach Passi students to fight fake news

The Language Program and the Information and Publications Office (IPO) of the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) tied up to teach high school and grade school students of Passi City, Iloilo to fight fake news.

Sponsored by the ISTORYA: Read Me, Feed Me Project, the seminar-workshop on media literacy was held last June 23, 2022, in barangays Sto. Tomas and Nueva Union in Passi City.

Two batches, composed of about 45 grades 6 to 9 students, participated in the said seminar-workshop.

Prof. Jessie Labiste, Jr. of the Division of Professional Education, Language Program faculty-in-charge, said they were invited by the Efraim M. Santebañez National High School (EMSNHS), where some teachers are part of the ISTORYA team, to talk about ways to stop the proliferation of fake news.

IPO Director Gerthrode Charlotte Tan-Mabilog talked about identifying fake news and fighting them using information from legitimate sources.

She shared some of her experiences about the matter as a former broadcast journalist and supervising producer of Ratsada 24 Oras, formerly Ratsada and 24 Oras Western Visayas, GMA TV-6’s afternoon public affairs and news program from the early 2000s until 2015.

Mr. Jesie Silva, EMSNHS teacher and member of ISTORYA, told his students to appreciate the media literacy seminar-workshop.

He said that the seminar-workshop is one of the series of talks to be attended by the students. Other topics are teenage pregnancy, the environment, and mental health.

The ISTORYA: Read Me, Feed Me Project is aligned with the Department of Education’s Brigada Pagbasa Program.

After the talk, the participants were tasked to create a poster depicting the fight against fake news.  The team from UPV also donated books to EMSNHS. (Carlson B. Alelis, IPO)