MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – As Nobel lauriat Maria Ressa likes to say, “Without facts, you can’t have truth.” Without truth, you are a liar.

With this in mind, the Philippines’ Professional Regulation Commission and the Department of Information and Communications Technology have jointly proposed that all meandering, fly-by-night vloggers must undergo licensure exams in order to practice the “profession.”

Unlike all other major professions, journalists and vloggers don’t need to be licensed in order to do what they do (or not do).

The proposal came after the PRC and DICT noticed the proliferation of vloggers like Raissa Robles, Maharlika, Jover Laurio and many others who use social media to manufacture and spread lies. Robles, for one, a self-proclaimed investigative journalist and failed book author, uses Twitter to scout for interviewees for her “stories” and crowdsourcing to gather juicy gossip. Maharlika relies on unreliable “sources” to sugar-coat her fictitious posts.

PRC and DICT said they will send their proposal to Senator Robin Padilla so that the appropriate bill on the professionalization of vlogging can be filed.