THE UNIVERSITY of the Philippines-Visayas recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Ateneo de Manila University for the holding of a series of activities to fight disinformation.

These activities include national and regional conferences, fact-checking workshops, special initiatives, and academic research.

Dr. Zoilo Andrada Jr., a faculty member of the Division of Humanities from the College of Arts and Sciences in UP Visayas, will lead the project.

Isabella Marie Zerrudo will be the assistant director with Charmie Saligumba and Katherine Valencia as members.

“The project is a collaboration between UPV and the Consortium on Democracy and Disinformation. The consortium is a nationwide network of journalists, academics, bloggers, and civil society representatives in the Philippines, supported by the Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle Philippines, Holy Angel University, and the University of the Philippines,” UPV said.

The consortium has four university-based hubs: Holy Angel University in Angeles City, Ateneo de Manila in Quezon City, University of the Philippines Visayas in Iloilo, and Mindanao State University in Marawi City.

The network has organized two national and 10 regional conferences reaching over 4,000 participants in the past years.

The first conference was hosted by ADMU in 2018 with the title, “Democracy and Disinformation: Why fake news and other forms of disinformation threaten our freedoms, and how to fight back.”

In 2019, UP led the conference entitled, “Disinformation and Democratic Decay: Why deceptive information erodes democratic institutions, and how to fight forward.”

The network has also conducted a number of fact-checking workshops and worked with media organizations to produce special initiatives in journalism including a do-it-yourself fact-checking manual and six counter-disinformation videos.

On February 22, 24, and 26, 2021, UPV will host a three-day national online conference, gathering prominent media personalities, civil society representatives, and advocates to discuss disinformation and democracy in various contexts.

The event is free and interested participants must register through https://bit.ly/2MApdU4.