Amid the growing spread of fake news on social media, the Land Transportation Office (LTO), under the supervision of Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Vince Dizon, is set to strengthen coordination with the Philippine National Police (PNP) to combat disinformation campaigns targeting the agency.
According to LTO Chief, Assistant Secretary Atty. Vigor D. Mendoza II, the agency’s social media monitoring team, which actively tracks viral photos and videos of traffic violators, has increasingly encountered misinformation and disinformation aimed at discrediting the LTO.
“Many are spreading false information, and sadly, many of our fellow citizens are being deceived. At first, we chose to ignore it because we were focused on clearing the backlog of vehicle plates,” Mendoza said.
He noted that much of the disinformation is packaged to appear as legitimate news or breaking news, making it more convincing to the public. “This could be why many of our netizens are falling for these misinformation and disinformation campaigns. It’s time we fought back,” he added.
One recent example was a TikTok video falsely claiming that the Online Drivers Licensing System was down and that at least four courier services had been suspended.
Mendoza quickly clarified that the system remains fully operational and no courier service has been suspended.
“We can clearly see the motive—purely to discredit us and incite anger toward the government at the expense of the LTO,” Mendoza stressed.
The planned coordination with the PNP comes as the police leadership intensifies its crackdown on fake news peddlers, which has already led to charges being filed against several vloggers.
In one recent case, a vlogger misrepresented a scuffle aboard a passenger bus in Cebu as a case of broad daylight robbery.
“This must stop, and it will take cooperation to hold accountable those behind these fake news campaigns,” Mendoza said.