The Philippine presidential election features six candidates and will take place on May 9.

“We are appalled by the blatant and subtle distortion, manipulation, cover-up, repression and abuse of the truth,” the nation’s bishops said in their February 25 statement, in which they decried attempts “to delete or destroy our collective memory through the seeding of lies and false narratives. This is dangerous, for it poisons our collective consciousness and destroys the moral foundations of our institutions.”