MANILA, Philippines - An Australian criminologist investigating the Vizconde massacre case is offering a P500,000 reward to credible witness who could provide information that would lead to conviction of real perpetrators of the crime.
Christian Faust made the offer after the Australian government’s Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) denied his request to release the identity of “Ms. X,” a Filipino immigrant who claimed that her former husband and his friends belonging to a drug syndicate were involved in the Vizconde massacre in 1991. Faust said she also had inside information on the killings.
The ruling, signed by Freedom of Information officer Robert Jessop, cited as basis for denial section 439 of their Migration Act of 1958, which “prohibits a Tribunal member of officer from making a record of, or divulging or communicating any information concerning a person which the Tribunal has obtained in the course of performing its functions.”
The RRT, in the letter to Faust last March 16 obtained by The STAR, said it could only release the identity of the woman “for purposes of the act or the purposes of the performance of a function or duty of exercise of power under the act.”
It also cited the Information Privacy Principle 11 of section 14 of the Privacy Act of 1988, which provides that “disclosure of requested information is either permissible or required or authorized under the law, which in this case, is the Migration Act 1958.”
Faust, who initiated his own probe into the massacre case, had requested information on the identity of Ms. X last March 12. He said he will appeal the decision of RRT with Australian courts.
The private investigator, who has over 30 years of experience in investigating high-profile crimes worldwide, said he plans to pursue the probe.