Screengrab from Facebook
Informants and tipsters who may have leads on the killers of former Inquirer correspondent Melinda “Mei” Magsino need not fear being identified when they approach the police: They can now use the Facebook account “Task Force Magsino.”
The Philippine National Police has tapped social media on top of a hotline number to encourage informants to come forward, said Philippine National Police spokesperson Chief Supt. Generoso Cerbo Jr.
“This is now the practice of law enforcers all over the world, using social media in investigations,” Cerbo said of the Facebook account created three days after the journalist was gunned down at noon of April 13.
Magsino had just stepped out of her rented apartment in Barangay Balagtas in Batangas province when a gunman shot her on the nape and escaped on a waiting motorcyle.
Police are still looking into the motive behind the murder of the journalist who had created a number of enemies with her exposés on the corrupt practices of some Batangas politicians.
The PNP has put up Task Force Usig to look into the killing, while the Batangas provincial police office has its Special Investigation Task Group Magsino headed by Supt. Dennis Esguerra, its deputy chief for operations.
The provincial police also created the “Task Force Magsino” Facebook account.
Pranksters
“There are concerns (that) pranksters might give false information to mislead the investigation,” Cerbo said of the social media accounts.
“But the PNP can double check and verify the information even if these are diversionary or false,” he added.
Netizens who might have leads on the Magsino killing can send the PNP a private message on Facebook, or send an SMS or a text message to the Batangas police through cell phone number 09062072776.
Magsino herself was an active netizen who used her Facebook account to criticize local politicians. She was a known critic of the late Batangas Gov. Armand Sanchez whom she linked to illegal gambling in her earlier newspaper reports.
The special investigation task group will invite the personalities that Magsino had criticized on her Facebook account in hopes of getting leads on the case. It already got statements from the journalist’s estranged husband, her live-in partner, and a local councilor she had accused of sending her obscene messages on Facebook.
Sen. Ralph Recto, who hails from Batangas, and Rep. Mark Mendoza of the fourth district of Batangas have put up a P200,000 reward for anyone who may have leads on Magsino’s killers.