“WE ARE meeting everyday to plan for BBM’s assassination. Get ready,” read a TikTok post which prompted the cybercrime office of the Department of Justice to push for a thorough probe on a ‘kill plot’ against presidential aspirant Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, Jr.

In a message sent to the Law Enforcement Outreach Trust and Safety at TikTok, DoJ’s cybercrime group officer-in-charge lawyer Charito Zamora has requested the social media platform to “preserve the data related to the subject account while the Philippine authorities are working on the legal process for its disclosure.”

Zamora said that Kerri Woods of TikTok Law Enforcement Outreach is now working on the request of the DoJ cybercrime probers.

The DOJ cybercrime office has also written its counterparts in the National Bureau of Investigation and Philippine National Police to assist in determining the extent of the ‘kill plot’ and the personalities behind it.

“An initial open source probe was conducted on the subject TikTok account with Uniform Source Locator (URL) https:/www.tiktok.com/@ljluna7 which initially revealed as a public account supporting xxx,” Zamora’s letter to the NBI and PNP cybercrime groups dated January 28, 2022 was quoted as saying.

Narrating on how the DoJ cybercrime office has uncovered the ‘kill plan’ against the leading presidential aspirant, Zamora said “it was a tip that a TikTok post is circulating with a message to kill BBM.”

“As a matter of procedure, we immediately proceed in having it investigated because of the seriousness of the subject. It’s really an actionable intelligence concern,” explained Zamora, who refused to elaborate more on the reported ‘kill plot’ against Marcos.

In a statement released Sunday, Marcos chief of staff and spokesman Atty. Vic Rodriguez said that “while the report on the assassination plot is concerning, we are not cowered by such threat.

Bongbong shall continue to personally deliver his message around the country with firm resolve to unify the nation.”

“We commend the cybercrime office of the Justice department, through Sec. Menardo Guevarra, for its swift and uncompromising response to uncover those behind this open threat to harm aspiring president Bongbong Marcos,” said Rodriguez.

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Ryan Ponce Pacpaco