The activities associated with the governance of a country or other area, especially the debate or

conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power.

The Philippines is a republic with a presidential form of government wherein power is equally divided
among its three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The government seeks to act in the best
interests of its citizens through this system of check and balance.

The Philippines is a democratic and republican State. Sovereignty resides in the people and all
government authority emanated from them.

One basic corollary in a presidential system of government is the principle of separation of powers
wherein legislation belongs to Congress, execution to the Executive, and settlement of legal
controversies to the Judiciary.

The Legislative branch is authorized to make laws, alter, and repeal them through the power vested
in the Philippine Congress. This institution is divided into the Senate and the House of
Representatives.

The Executive branch is composed of the President and the Vice President who are elected by direct
popular vote and serve a term of six years. The Constitution grants the President authority to appoint
his Cabinet. These departments form a large portion of the country’s bureaucracy.

The executive branch carries out and enforces laws. It includes the President, Vice President, the
Cabinet, executive departments, independent agencies, boards, commissions, and committees.

The Judicial branch holds the power to settle controversies involving rights that are legally
demandable and enforceable. This branch determines whether or not there has been a grave abuse
of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction on the part and instrumentality of the
government. It is made up of a Supreme Court and lower courts.
The judicial branch interprets the meaning of laws, applies laws to individual cases, and decides if
laws violate the Constitution. The judicial power shall be vested in one Supreme Court and in such
lower courts as may be established by law.

In recent months, the social media platform Facebook announced the deactivation of several
accounts which were found to have dubious identities and activities on the platform. They said that
some of the accounts were even involved in the promotion of select politicians and political interest
groups.

Facebook remains the social media platform accessed by the largest number of people in the
country. In a recent report from We Are Social and Hootsuite, studies showed that about 76 million
Filipinos out of 107.3 million have access to the Internet. About 97 percent of these netizens access
Facebook, while only 54 percent use Twitter. About 96 percent watch videos on YouTube and 64
percent post photos on Instagram.

The report said 63 percent of social media users in the country belong to the 17- 34 age group, with
females comprising a little over half of that number. About 13 percent belong to the 35-44 age
group, while about 11 percent are teenagers in the 13-17 age group. Users over 45 years old

With fake online accounts and the machinery which produces and disseminates these false stories,
Khan said it is possible for legitimate concerns and problems of ordinary citizens, minority groups and
various sectors to be silenced by their ideological or political rivals. She said that these groups will
manipulate public opinion to favor the political, economic or ideological interests of a particular
group, sector or politician. “They drown out the legitimate voices in favor of paid voices that want to
skew public opinion,” she said.

Recognizing how false stories online are also fueled by political beliefs and ideologies these days,
Arao said people should be more discriminating about new information and stories which can be
picked up online, especially if these were picked up from dubious online sources. “We cannot just
accept everything, hook, line and sinker, because the problem with fake news is that it is out there,
particularly in social media, along with the truth.”

For these experts, the proliferation of disinformation online, while worrying, serves as a challenge
for media scholars and practitioners to collaborate and find ways to promote media literacy and
responsible journalism. It has also become an opportunity to appreciate the important role the press
plays in societies like the Philippines, which remain experiments in nation-building and
representative democracies.