MANILA — House Suffrage & Electoral Reforms Committee Chairperson Representative Zia Alonto Adiong said on Monday a law must be established to guide the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the polls’ integrity, adding they must ensure AI-generated content will not be used to interfere with the elections.
During the panel’s meeting, Adiong also expressed concerns over “very fast-emerging AI” and how this could affect the integrity of the elections.
“Kailangan po natin magkaroon ng isang batas na siya po ‘yung gabay sa Comelec para maprotektahan po natin ‘yung integridad ng ating election. Remember, in 2028 elections, we will be electing again the next president. So we have to make sure that the integrity of the election will be secured and the AI will not be used as a portal for other entities, either foreign or domestic, to intervene or interfere in our elections by way of producing or manufacturing videos that are AI-generated,” Adiong said after the hearing.
As the committee discussed House bills on fair use of AI, social media, and internet technology for holding credible elections, Atty. Ma. Anne Tonette Rivera of the Comelec’s Office of the Chairman discussed wanting to include propagation of “fake posts” as an election offense and including the spread of fake news as grounds for disqualification.
“I think it would be good for us to define any posts– candidates of political parties that propagate posts, fake posts to also be included as an election offense because the possibility of being disqualified from the elections, for instance, or from facing criminal proceedings might be a more effective deterrent because if we can act quickly and file petitions for disqualification on the basis of an election offense. So not just an election offence, possibly a ground for disqualification,” Rivera said.
Comelec Resolution No. 11064 lists additional acts that count as election offenses under Section 261 of the Omnibus Election Code, including dissemination of fake news for some purposes and certain use of content produced through AI technology.
“Currently, under our Comelec resolution, ang ginagawa po namin every time may proven na fake news, pinapasok po namin siya sa Section 261 (z) as an election offense, but it would be better if maybe if we can refine the election offense and make it more specific tapos gawin po nating ground for disqualification,” Rivera said.
Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE) Executive Director Ona Caritos said if the content is bordering on malicious, it will not fall under protected speech.
“If it's bordering on malicious, imputation of malicious content then it could be considered under our laws, current existing laws as libel and cyber libel. It will not fall under protected speech or you're allowed to say it under your freedom of speech so it will not fall under your– it will not be protected speech,” Caritos said.
But some lawmakers raised concerns over the proposal, saying this could be weaponized by some candidates.
“For example, my opponent can actually put up a content using AI, tapos atakihin niya kunyari sarili niya tapos sabihin niya akin… Instead of regulating, baka ma-weaponize nalang instead na maging result ng batas na ‘to,” Adiong said.
For Aklan 1st District Representative Jesus Marquez, there must be safeguards on this to ensure it is not abused.
“Kailangan may safeguards tayo kasi baka magamit itong pagreklamo sa isang kandidato na hindi naman siya ‘yung gumawa. Maaaring ma-abuse naman ‘yung pagreklamo sa Comelec. And eventually, what's going to happen is that puro reklamo nalang ang abutin at puro subpoena nalang matatanggap ng mga kandidato at baka hindi na kami makapagkampanya niya dahil sagot na lang kami nang sagot,” Marquez said.
Comelec conducts fact-finding investigations to determine who is liable when it comes to such offenses, River said in response to concerns over how some may commit election offenses even if they are not directly affiliated with candidates.
“If there are supporters acting independently and not upon the specific instructions of the candidate– so normally naman po kapag ganyan, mayroon kaming fact-finding investigation conducted by the relevant either task force or ‘yung law department namin to really determine kung sino po ‘yung dapat maging liable. So it's not automatic that a post that may benefit a candidate would result in a petition or a complaint against that candidate,” Rivera said.
DISCLOSURE ON AI USE
Instead of content regulation, Caritos recommended anchoring enforcement on transparency, particularly on AI use, instead of content regulation.
Caritos also proposed making disclosure of AI use in content mandatory, which would include identifying who paid for such material if this is a paid advertisement.
“We would like to anchor enforcement in transparency rather than content regulation… The provisions most likely to work are the transparency provisions– mandatory disclosure of AI use, paid advertisement disclosure identifying who paid for the material, the public database of funding and spending disclosures proposed in one of the measures and the right of reply,” Caritos said.
Caritos added, platforms have the obligation to disclose AI use in a campaign.
Caritos said jurisdictions relying on regulating content produced censorship and abuse rather than an improved information environment.
Rivera, meanwhile, wants changes in the law to broaden the definition of “candidate” so Comelec could regulate social media activity upon filing of certificates of candidacy (COC).
“The definition of candidate only applies during the campaign period. So this legislation might be a way to already synthesize or make a broader definition of candidate that would allow the Comelec to regulate activities in social media as early as the filing of the COC because by then, they've already put forward to the public that they intend to run in the elections,” Rivera said.
INSTITUTIONALIZING PARTNERSHIPS
Rivera also suggested institutionalizing partnerships with private stakeholders as they have been “instrumental” in Comelec’s campaign.
Prior to this, Rivera talked about partnerships they’ve had with social media platforms to ensure regulation on AI use.
“During the last two electoral exercises, the 2025 National and Local elections as well as the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections, the Comelec through the Education and Information Department and its Task Force KKK have been implementing some measures to address the use of social media and AI primarily through partnerships with the private stakeholders. So we were able to have a memorandum of agreement and commitment from various social media technologies so that they can regulate and police the use of AI,” Rivera said.
“We're very happy kasi we received a lot of support from the private entities po. And in fact, that's something we would want to recommend. Baka puwedeng i-include po natin sa batas ‘yung pag-institutionalize po ng partnership natin with all of these private stakeholders because they've really been instrumental in our campaign po so far,” Rivera added.