PCO seeks P16 million for anti-‘fake news’ program, P252 million for advertising in 2026

The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) has earmarked P16 million to fight "fake news" and P252 million for advertising expenses for 2026, PCO chief Dave Gomez said.

“We do a significant amount of work in terms of combating fake news and misinformation, from the digital front to coordination with other government agencies for data on these fake news sites,” Gomez said during the budget briefing for PCO’s proposed P2.5-billion budget for 2026 before the House appropriations panel.

“We continue to educate our people against fake news [and] we only have an allocation of P16 million for it. Just to be a little bit more specific, Your Honor, when we see something in social media that is obviously fake and is obviously based on misinformation, we counter that with content that would clarify the misinformation, correct the misinformation, and outright dispute that fake news. It's content versus content,” he said.

Gomez added that this approach does not require much budget.

“It it's really more of maximizing and leveraging all the social media platforms available to our disposal, not only at the PCO main office, but through our attached agency system. That brings me back to my earlier point that we need to have synchronized, consistent messaging across all our platforms to drown out or even silence the fake news,” he said.

During the same budget briefing, Gomez also defended the PCO’s proposed P252-million advertising expenses for 2026, a 5,800% increase from its P4.24-million advertising budget for this year after it was questioned by House Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers party-list Representative Antonio Tinio.

“Your Honor, this [P252 million advertising budget] pertains to the plans for next year, and as correctly pointed out by our budget officer, most of the increases will really go to ASEAN. But at the same time, we're looking at several other important milestones for next year. And that's why we need to advertise not just locally, but in some international outlets as well,” Gomez said, referring to the Philippines' hosting the ASEAN summit next year.

He also said the Philippines’ bid to be a non-permanent member of the United Nations (UN) Security Council would also entail additional costs.

“[I]t will require a lot of lobbying, a lot of projecting our country externally, on why we deserve to be nominated and elected,” Gomez said.

“We need to produce in-house those marketing content materials that we need to showcase in certain international roadshows. And those materials are really classified under advertising. We will follow the direction of the Department of Foreign Affairs in terms of communications here, as well as the Office of the Presidential Protocol. We will develop the content in coordination with them, and amplify the same,” Gomez added.

Tinio, however, said he would need additional breakdown of the proceeds of the P252 million of PCO’s advertising expenses for 2026.

“I really hope we can be given a breakdown because napakalaki po ng hinihingi [you are asking such a large amount] for all of these, in particular advertising, para malaman po natin exactly saan mapupunta ito [so that we will know exactly where these funds will be going],” Tinio said.

“Yes, we will comply,” Gomez replied. — BM, GMA Integrated News