COOPERATIVE LEARNING:

CASE STUDY

Suspek sa Pagpatay sa Isang Siklista, Binigyan ng MPD Ng Hanggang

5 p.m. Para Sumuko

Published on Jul 27, 2016

by YouTube Channel: GMA News and Current Affairs

Retrieved on Feb. 18, 2017 from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE8GHioR1YU

In 2016, the Manila Police District gave the suspect a grace period until 5
p.m. to surrender himself to the police. The suspect was an army reservist
who was the suspect in the shooting incident of a cyclist in Quiapo, Manila,
that declared him dead on the spot. He was positively recognized by the
witness to this incident. This incident falls under the category of murder,
which will be faced by the 29-year-old army reservist named Vhon Tanto,
who is said to be the suspect in shooting and killing Mark Vincent Garalde
in Quiapo, Manila, on Monday. According to the police, he was positively
recognized by the one and only witness to the incident. Based on the
information gathered by the Manila Police District, the suspect was from
Cotabato and is currently residing in Quaipo, Manila, where the incident
happened. The suspect was identified by the residents of Quiapo, and they
said he was always making illegal parking on the highway. The authorities
keep on requesting that he follow the ordinance, but he still disregards it.
The authorities decided to reach him by going to his house, but the suspect
wasn´t already there, nor was his car.

According to the chief of the Manila District Office, the suspect´s name and car
were scattered everywhere, and there´s a possibility that it will lead to unpleasant
incidents in searching for the suspect. Before this, Mr. Nestor Punzalan faces the
Bureu of National Investigation after it was scattered on social media that the
conduction plate number of the suspect´s car is MO3746, which is the same as the
conduction plate of Mr. Punzalan. According to MPD, the conduction plate was the
first thing that was given by the witness, but the witness immediately changed his
statement that M03745 was the conduction plate number of the suspect´s car.

"We already have the police to investigate, but the problem is, not only on social
media, but there is also a journalist who shared and posted on his Facebook page that
he was the suspect with no evidence." According to Punzalan´s medical certificate,
he didn´t acquire any physical injury, which was believed by his lawyer to mean that
he was not involved in the incident that was captured by the CCTV. Mr. Punzalan
stated also that he is innocent and knows that he cannot do it; his name was only
implicated. He felt fear because he´s already received a lot of death threats. His family
is planning to sue the person behind this false accusation. 

On the other hand, the chief editor of Top Gear Philippines spoke up about this
issue. He admitted his mistake to the netizens and said that he would take full
responsibility for posting Mr. Punzalan´s vehicle and his profile without his
permission and asked for an apology for what he had caused him and his family. He
also asked for an apology from their followers and promised to do better next time.
He also said that he will do anything to reach out to Mr. Punzalan and personally ask
for an apology from him and his family.

GUIDE QUESTIONS
1. How was Mr. Nestor Punzalan affected by being wrongfully accused in social media as the suspect
in the said shooting incident?
This fake news that was posted by Top Gear, making Mr. Nestor Punzalan
the suspect of the shooting incident because of the wrong statement of the
witness since his car and the suspect´s car have the same plate number, has
made his life miserable. His name and reputation were being damaged
because of those wrong accusations, and he even received several death
threats, which was very alarming, not only to him but also to his family.
This wrong accusation has caused Mr. Punzalan trauma by causing him to
receive negative and harsh comments from the netizens. It wasn´t easy for
him because he suffered from cyberbullying that almost ruined his life.
However, despite those bashings and threats, he stated that he is innocent,
and he knows in himself that he cannot commit this kind of crime.

2. What is the liability of Top Gear, other media outlets, and netizens who wrongfully accused Mr.
Nestor Punzalan as the suspect in the said shooting incident?

This wrong accusation by Top Gear, other media outlets, and netizens has damaged
someone´s name and reputation, which is why they are liable for the sanctions that
will be given to them by the Supreme Court because what they did is already against
the law. The netizens on social media who were accusing him with no evidence to
prove that he is really the suspect are liable to libel and bullying. Once Mr. Punzalan
proved that these assertions were all erroneous, Top Gear, which posted his car
accusing him without Mr. Punzalan´s permission, will be sued. The extent of this
liability will depend on how it affects the person, which is why they need to fix this
issue by clearing his name, stating to the public that the person they accused of being
the suspect in this incident is innocent, and most importantly, asking for a public
apology.

3. What role was played by citizen journalism and social media in this incident?
The role that was played by citizen journalism and social media in this
incident was to ruin Mr. Punzalan´s life by accusing him of being the
suspect in the shooting incident with no factual testimony. They made this
situation worse by making him trend online and spreading false information
about what really happened in the incident.
4. What positive and negative effects of media and information on individual and society were evident
in this incident?
There were evident positive and negative effects of media and
information on individuals and society in this incident. However, the
negative effects are way more visible here. Through this, we are able to
obtain information that is very important to us and keeps us updated on the
present situations happening in our society, which will give us awareness.
Although we should never forget that we also have limitations when it
comes to using social media, not because it is our privilege; we are already
allowed to do and post everything we want. We should always consider
others when taking actions on social media, whether it will affect them
financially or mentally and keep in mind that one post can ruin someone´s
life in any aspect.

5. How can we prevent this kind of incident as experienced by Mr. Punzalan from happening in the
future?
Fake news is rampant nowadays, and it is kind of hard to distinguish
whether information is factual or not. However, in order to prevent this kind
of incident, the first and most important thing that we need to do is
discipline ourselves. Change comes first from ourselves; we should teach
ourselves that we should not be a source of fake news or post irrelevant
information that could affect or ruin someone´s name. And also, we need to
learn how to properly conduct research before jumping to conclusions. We
should always evaluate the information that we see on social media and
identify which of those facts are factual and which are not.

6. What important lesson can we learn from this event as a social media user?
After completing this case study, I made a lot of realizations and learned
a lot of lessons to become a responsible social media user. The most
important lesson I learned is to become media and information literate by
distinguishing and evaluating which information is factual or not. Before
taking an action on social media, we should not think only once, but a
million times. We have this so-called slogan, "Think before you click, which
is to consider a person´s feelings and how it will affect them in all aspects. I
learned that anyone doesn´t have the right to accuse someone without
evidence, spread and post inaccurate information that may ruin someone´s
name, or post someone´s private property without permission from the
owner.