Local Top Gear Philippines has been in the spotlight in the last couple of days after posting the Facebook profile of a suspected shooter which turned out was a simple mistaken identify. However, damage has been done and the victim has been on the receiving end of death threats and ridicule, prompting him to deactivate his FB account.
Nestor Punzalan has been wrongly identified as the person who shot a biker Mark Vincent Garalde in a recent roadside altercation that resulted into a murder incident. With close to 3 million Facebook fans, Top Gear Philippines was closely monitoring and promoting news and updates about the incident. However, the information they were passing around turned out to be false.
Top Gear PH was not the first one to report the wrong conduction sticker which led them to report the wrong person associated with the wrong information. However, they were the one who linked to Punzalan’s Facebook page that prompted people to mob him on FB.
Nestor came to the NBI and his name has been cleared. The real suspect has now been identified. Vernon Sarne, Editor of Top Gear PH, said this through a comment on their Facebook Page:
“I was responsible for posting the photo of Mr. Punzalan’s vehicle, and I realize now that I shouldn’t have done so. I accept full responsibility. This is all on me. I will do my best to reach out to Mr. Punzalan and personally apologize to him and his family. The buck stops here. This is all my fault…”
However, Punzalan replied in a report done on 24 Oras, GMA:
“Di pwede yung sorry-sorry na lang. Grabe ang ginawa nila, dapat silang managot.”
Their side is now moving towards filing a case on through the Cybercrime Prevention Act.
With all the bad publicity TGP’s been getting, I wouldn’t be surprised of the BBC (owner of Top Gear trademarks) terminates their brand licensing agreement with Summit Media. I’m sure a prestigious and respected organization like the BBC will not want one of their prized assets being tainted by Pinoy tabloid “journalism”
sa dinami dami ng nag-share nung unverified info, TGPh lang yung napag-initan hahahahah
mga wala kayo kotse kaya galit kayo sa top gear at inggit kayo dami nila babes hehehe mga bitter.
irresponsible journalism spotted
mabuti nga sa inyo TGP.
Haters spotted. Tsk tsk
Top Gear Philippines had it coming. May pagkakups at irresponsible mga ibang post nila sa FB kahit dati pa, magtrending lang. Eto na yung hinihintay nila, national news na sila.
Hahaha! Kung ako kay Punzalan I will milk Top Gear to the fullest! Tapos benta mo na yung Eon mo. Bili ka na ng BMW. hahaha!
Milk em as much as u can
Next time Top Gear philippines stick to your sites all about cars, when it comes to this kind of issues (road rage) wag na kayo makisawsaw just to be the first to report it. As an editor you should always be responsible what you post on your site as this can either help or ruin a person’s live. Ang hirap kasi sa nyo pag kayo pinupuna ng followers nyo sa maling report kayo tong matatapang o ayan na paso kayo. For delikadeza Mr. Top Gear Editor you better subimit your resignation don’t drag the whole Top Gear to the action you have done.
Better yet, the BBC (owner of TG brand/trademarks) folks in London should terminate their brand/franchise agreement with Summit Media (publisher of TGP) before this pinoy-style tabloid “journalism” causes damage to one of the BBC’s most prized brand assets worldwide.
I am a follower of that post/article in TGP. the series of events are as follows:
1. Someone posted the video in another post (regarding cars) asking TGP for help identifying the suspect.
2. Video got posted in TGP page. Within minutes umabot ng 2000+ shares and 1000+ comments, all shouting indignation and asking for justice, in addition to wanting the suspect dead with comments like “a life for a life”, “president duterte isunod mo na eto”, “sana mandukot ng baril yan kung mahuli”, etc.
3. TGP reached out to Hyundai Philippines for help. Hyundai declined, stating through proper authorities na lang.
4. Someone posted the conduction sticker number in the posts. The conduction sticker number was from GMA news post and other media sources.
5. Someone found the car with the conduction sticker number. Post consisted of picture of the car (screen grab) along with the name of the owner and FB page. By this time nagsimula na ang pagpunta sa page ng owner ng eon with mistaken identity~ dinumog na.
6. TGP boosted the FB page link together with picture of the car by posting it themselves and by virtue of likes, with a disclaimer that it was not 100% verified.
7. FB page of Mr. Punzalan was deactivated.
I don’t know kung may mabigat na kaso si Mr. Punzalan against TGP. If anything, ang dapat niya kasuhan ay ang GMA for releasing his conduction sticker number (without verifying the source) and the people who messaged his FB page with death threats and cyber bullying. sure, may kasalanan rin ang TGP but not as grave as these 2 entities. TGP shares the blame, but does not get the majority of it.
errr, pinost din nila fb page at picture kahit hindi verified. gahaman sa page traffic.
Habang tumatagal nagiging kupal na ang admins ng TGPH fb page eh. Last time i checked source of info sila about cars and automotive industry. Utang na loob hayaan nyo na ang News media ang mag cover nyan.
SHIT just got real… Sorry TOP GEAR PH… you loose this time… LOL!
wla ba zoom in yun video to enhance yun scene or screen grab on timer 1:28 nakaharap yun 2 sa cam pwede ma id yun suspect.
Sabi nga nila, “Think before you Click”. Di dapat tayo basta-basta nagpopost ng kung ano ano sa social media sites kasi pwede itong gamitin laban sa atin.
Hahaha, Assuming ka kasing EDITOR ka. Ano ka ngayon ? Hanap ng RELIABLE SOURCE before posting.
Damage has been done, kawawa naman yung PINAGBINTANGAN, proud ka na maipublish agad ? Hakot ng Likes at Shares ??? Then what ????
THINK BEFORE YOU CLICK! Tsk tsk
Eto yung sundalong natalo sa suntukan, WTF sundalo ba yan? sa baril ka lang my lakas na loob e.
reservist lang yan, lumaki ang ulo nakasuot lng ng uniforme ng sundalo, sa pilipinas kasi kung sino pa yung walng mga karangko ranko sila pa yung sakit ng ulo