SPEAKER Faustino “Bojie” Dy III is pushing for the inclusion of digital literacy in basic education.
“If we teach our children how to read and write, in the Age of Social Media, we must also equip them with the knowledge to recognize lies and misinformation on the internet,” Dy said. He had filed House Bill 9965 with House Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander Marcos, seeking to regulate minors’ social media access. Under the bill, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and Department of Education (DepEd) will include a “Digital Literacy and Ethical Use of Social Media” module in the K–12 curriculum. “The biggest danger is not just what our youth see on social media — but [also] what the algorithm repeatedly chooses to show them. So we should give them knowledge and skill to be critical, think carefully and understand how every scroll of theirs affects their worldview,” Dy said in Filipino. “Our goal is not to keep the children away from technology. What we want is to ensure that they will not be victims of it,” he said. The bill was “part of the House leadership’s efforts to establish a comprehensive framework for children’s online safety by combining age-appropriate regulation, stronger platform accountability, parental involvement and digital education,” a statement from Dy’s office said. On Thursday, a technical working group at the House of Representatives met over bills filed to regulate minors’ use of social media and other bills. Present at the meeting were resource persons from the DepEd, DICT, Commission on Higher Education, Commission on Human Rights, Council for the Welfare of Children, Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center, Department of Health, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Justice, National Coordination Center Against Online Sexual Abuse of Children and Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Materials, Department of Social Welfare and Development, National Center for Mental Health, National Bureau of Investigation, National Privacy Commission, National Telecommunications Commission, and other offices.
