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SI Info Production

Original
Tiffany Zarandin

Selling Advocacy: “Tulong, Benta o Doble Kwenta?” — Purpose-Driven Branding and Social Issue Framing in the Philippines

In the Philippines, advocacy is deeply tied to lived experience—shaped by stories of struggle and resilience, strengthened by bayanihan, and carried by shared hope. Filipinos are naturally drawn to causes that feel close to home, from disaster relief and community support to mental health awareness and social justice, because these are not distant issues but realities that touch everyday life. In an age where social media heavily shapes public perception, many brands have learned how powerful these emotions can be—not only for helping others, but also for increasing visibility, engagement, and consumer loyalty. This is where the question begins: Nakakatulong ba talaga? O benta lang?

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Original
Angela Ambon

Budol as an Information Practice: How Filipino E‑Commerce Content Shapes Consumer Knowledge

In the Philippines, the internet functions as more than a mere digital marketplace; it serves as a sprawling digital commons of advice, reviews, hauls, and viral discoveries where purchasing decisions are quietly negotiated and formed. One of the most vivid expressions of this dynamic is the budol phenomenon—the informal and often playful art of persuading someone to purchase an item they did not originally intend to buy. Far from being a simple marketing gimmick, budol culture has evolved into a distinct information practice. It deeply shapes how Filipino consumers evaluate products, understand risk, and assess value in everyday e-commerce.

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Education
Mary Jeanine Santiago

Who Wrote This Story? Responsible Use of AI Tools, Authorship, and Accountability in Student Journalism

Have you ever been accused by a professor of using AI (Artificial Intelligence)? The idea of being blamed for using the tool can be a modern form of an offense that lowers a writer’s integrity. I once had a friend back in my senior year of high school, a fellow student and aspiring journalist, who was told by our teacher, with a deadly look of certainty, that her article had been written with QuillBot. This reflects a prominent unease in journalism and academia: how the use of AI challenges credibility, authorship, and accountability. According to a report by the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Foundation in 2026, 83 percent of students in the Philippines have used generative AI for educational purposes. Moreover, the report also claims that while student usage is high, institutional adoption lags behind the rapid widespread use of AI. Only 73 percent of educators in the Philippines use generative AI for teaching, and an even lower 42 percent utilize it for their own writing. It is also stated that AI engagement is widely based on convenience rather than deeper and more rooted learning.

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Original
Miciel Cabalatungan

A Question of Power: Citizen Journalism and Its Implications for Formal Journalism

Before I enrolled in AB Journalism, I remember a striking conversation I had with one of my friends’ parent. He asked me why there was a need for journalists if there were individuals who disseminate a seemingly reflection of news-like content online. At that time, I could not argue back as I held a very loose view of the formal practice of journalism. There was a lingering question lost in the conversation: Can the formal practice of journalism be really replaced by an individual practice of information dissemination?

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Original
Pauline Alexie Saunar

Facebook is the Internet: How Individuals Depend on Facebook Influencers, Community Groups as Information Sources

There is no love like Filipinos’ love for Facebook. — In the Philippines, it is not Google nor Safari that dominates as the information source, it is Facebook. In 2025, Facebook became one of the top information sources, next to the Internet, 75% of Filipinos rely on it daily for news. Approximately 95.8 million Filipinos use the platform which is an enormous chunk of the entire population. During the pandemic era, netizens formed massive communities inside Facebook. These can be seen in the forms such as but not limited to marketplaces (buy & sell and food vendors), local villages, and fandoms. Filipinos dominate the users of Meta, primarily Facebook and Messenger with a staggering 81.9% relative to its total population. Meeting a Filipino is highly likely on the internet and even more common in Meta platforms.

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Opinion
Elaine Kong

When Health Claims Travel Faster Than Evidence: CAM Information in Networked Spaces

Health information no longer moves in a neat, straight line from the researcher’s bench to the clinician’s desk to the patient. Today, it ricochets. It travels through search engine auto-completes, TikTok feeds, private WhatsApp groups, and AI-generated summaries long before a patient ever sits down with a doctor or a medical librarian. For cancer patients and survivors exploring Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), this networked reality creates both real possibility and serious risk. In digital spaces, the challenge isn’t just finding information. It is untangling how certain health claims become highly visible, endlessly repeated, and ultimately trusted.

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Translation
Bo Hyun Hong

When AI Output Becomes “Good Enough”: Not Everyone Evaluates AI the Same Way

Even when people use the same AI system, they do not evaluate AI-generated information in the same way. For example, imagine two students using Gemini or other generative AI tools for the same assignment and both receive nearly identical answers. One student quickly accepts the response and moves on. The other pauses, checks the information against outside sources, and revises the AI-generated output before using it.

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