Barely three months after being listed as a priority legislation of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC), the House of Representatives (HOR) rushed through the proposed House Bill (HB) 9465 or Anti-Fake News and Digital Disinformation Act on third and final reading. Backed by House Majority Leader Sandro Marcos and Representative Bojie Dy III, the bill is being presented as a necessary weapon against fake news and online disinformation. Its sponsors frame it as a measure to protect national security and public interest.
The bill’s timing is difficult to ignore. The first concern is one of priorities: why is the Marcos administration rushing an anti-disinformation law when the economy is slowing, prices remain high, and millions of Filipinos are struggling with worsening living conditions? Instead of urgently pursuing economic reforms, the government is prioritizing a measure that expands its authority over online speech.
The second concern is even more troubling. By giving the state greater power to determine what is true or false, the bill risks becoming a tool against criticism, dissent, and public discussion of the country’s real conditions. In the hands of a government facing growing dissatisfaction, an anti-disinformation law can easily be used to police speech, including speech that exposes the real state of the economy.
A crackdown on critics?
In February 2026, LEDAC added HB 9465 to its list of priorities. The bill’s swift passage raises urgent questions about state censorship, because at its core, the bill grants broad powers to identify, investigate, and act against what authorities consider false information. The bill’s supporters argue that such powers are needed to combat disinformation.
Yet, who gets to decide what constitutes truth?
The danger is that independent analysis of government data and policies, discussions of economic issues that the government downplays, or public scrutiny of government programs, may be swept under the broad category of ‘disinformation’. The bill’s passage recalls the Duterte administration’s Anti-Terrorism Act, which granted the state extensive authority to identify and crack down on alleged terrorists.
HB 9465 expands state authority that poses risks not only to political opposition and activists but also to journalists, independent media, non-government research organizations, student publications, advocates, and the critical citizenry. What is presented as a measure against disinformation could ultimately become a weapon to criminalize dissent and discourage criticism of government failures.
Managing the narrative on the economy
The push for greater control over information comes as the Marcos Jr administration faces mounting criticism over the country’s deteriorating economic conditions, while there is no government discourse on the deterioration.
The latest national accounts affirm the continued decline of the local economy, with the gross domestic product (GDP) growing by only 2.8% in the first quarter of 2026, significantly slower than the 5.4% growth recorded in the same period last year. Excluding the economic collapse during the COVID-19 pandemic, the latest growth figure ranks among the weakest in recent years.
The weakening of the country’s productive sectors is historic. Agriculture, forestry and fishing, as well as industry, both posted negative year-on-year growth. The agriculture and manufacturing sectors should be the economic foundation, and are crucial in generating jobs, producing goods, and sustaining long-term economic development. But their shares in the GDP are now the lowest in the country’s history.
Rising prices squeeze Filipino families. Inflation surged from 2.2% in February to 6.8% in May, which is expected to remain elevated amid the United States (US) war against Iran and warmongering in Asia-Pacific, which affects global oil prices. The steep increase in fuel costs has triggered higher transportation fares, food prices, and other household expenses.
IBON estimates that 2 to 3 million families are at risk of falling deeper into poverty as wages fail to keep pace with rising living costs. The Social Weather Stations (SWS) reported in March 2026 that 52% of Filipino families rated themselves poor, one percentage point higher than in November 2025. Will the government now consider these independent reports false, as they do not jive with its rosy narrative?
IBON also estimates that on a national average, a family of five needs a living wage of Php1,312 a day, far from the national average minimum wage of only Php510. How will the government treat this discrepancy now?
The Marcos Jr administration’s attempt to boost its credibility in public discourse is more revealing. Economic hardships deepen, public dissatisfaction is growing, and the government’s response has been to present the crisis as temporary and largely driven by external shocks. No admission of its failures in managing the Philippine economy, no accountability.
President Marcos signed Executive Order 110, the Unified Package for Livelihoods, Industry, Food, and Transport (UPLIFT), which promises to mitigate the impact of rising fuel prices and ensure economic stability. Yet beyond the rhetoric, UPLIFT offers little to address the structural roots of the economic crisis. Like many of the administration’s economic measures, UPLIFT focuses on managing public sentiments rather than resolving underlying problems confronting the economy.
Getting pro-rich policies past public scrutiny
Will there also be speech regulation on how a narrow elite gets richer with the government’s favorable neoliberal policies, while millions struggle to make ends meet and slip into poverty day by day?
Since Ferdinand Marcos Jr assumed office in 2022, the combined wealth of the country’s five richest billionaires has increased by 54%, from Php1.1 trillion to Php1.7 trillion as of March 2026. This stands in stark contrast to about 14.4 million low-income and poor families, many of whom survive on less than Php22,000 a month.
This widening inequality is not accidental. It is the result of neoliberal economic policies that prioritize corporate profits, foreign investment, and elite interests over the welfare of ordinary Filipinos. While government assistance remains limited and insufficient, the administration continues to advance policies favorable to large corporations and investors. Calls to suspend oil excise taxes and to remove the value-added tax (VAT) on essential goods and services have largely been ignored despite their potential to ease the burden on millions of consumers.
Meanwhile, President Marcos Jr recently approved the 2026 Strategic Investment Priority Plan (SIPP) and expanded the range of activities eligible for incentives under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act. The SIPP grants additional tax perks and benefits to corporations and foreign investors to further attract foreign investments.
Following his recent visit to Japan, President Marcos Jr announced US$3.4 billion investment commitments from top Japanese firms, presenting them as evidence of ‘economic success’. These are mere investment promises, which, if realized, would only benefit big business anyway. Meanwhile, millions of Filipinos continue to endure rising prices, stagnant incomes, and inadequate social support—some even dying while waiting in line for ayuda.
Silencing critics is not a solution
Economic hardship is the reality of millions of Filipinos. Without a sound government plan to address this, public dissent will definitely intensify. But the Marcos government’s focus on expanding its power to regulate information sends a dangerous message: it is not lifting a finger to address the roots of the economic distress; instead, it is more concerned with managing criticism and controlling public discourse.
The anti-disinformation bill’s broad definitions risk turning legitimate questions, criticisms, and dissent into punishable threats rather than protected forms of democratic debate. This undermines the Filipino people’s right to free expression and weakens public accountability.
The real threat confronting Filipinos today is not simply the spread of disinformation and fake news, but how the state is working so hard to conceal the deepening economic crisis.
In the end, will the anti-disinformation bill only serve to turn the legitimate campaign against disinformation into a mechanism for silencing dissent and shielding those in power from accountability? Now more than ever, the Filipinos need answers.