The passing away of Lauro Vizconde a few days ago does not close the sad chapter on the tragedy known as the Vizconde massacre. On the contrary, it reopens it. The trial of the case having been long concluded, the requirements of the law may have been satisfied, but not the demands of justice. Justice demands that the killers be identified, made to answer for their crime and be meted out appropriate punishment.
Recall that: On June 30, 1991, the Vizconde women—Estrellita, 47-year- old mother; Carmela, 18-year-old daughter; and Jennifer, 7-year-old daughter—were brutally slain in cold-blood, with Carmela also raped. Suspects were sons of prominent families: Hubert Webb, Antonio Lejano II, Hospicio Fernandez, Michael Gatchalian, Miguel Rodriguez, Peter Estrada, Joey Filart and Artemio Ventura.
In August 1995 the trial began in the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Parañaque of Judge Amelita Tolentino. The case centered on the testimony of Jessica Alfaro that she saw Webb and his friends perform the criminal acts. Webb’s defense was that he was in the United States at the time of the commission of the crime and, therefore, could not have committed it.
On January 4, 2001, Tolentino found the accused guilty beyond reasonable doubt, sentencing them to reclusion perpetua.
On December 16, 2005, the Court of Appeals found the defendants’ appeal without merit and affirmed the RTC’s decision.
On December 14, 2010, the Supreme Court, reviewing the case, found the eyewitness account as unworthy of belief, and the alibi of Webb as backed by sufficient evidence, acquitting Webb and his coaccused, except Artemio Ventura and Joey Filart who were at large.
President Aquino ordered the law-enforcement agencies to restudy the case and pursue it before the prescription period expired. A task force was formed. Justice Secretary Leila M. de Lima, reporting the findings of the task force, said there was evidence that Webb was in the country at the time of the commission of the crime. Magnetic reel tapes of the Bureau of Immigration showed some of Webb’s family members departing the country in March 1991, without Hubert, and arriving in October 1992, with Hubert. Four witnesses testified that they saw Webb in various activities in the relevant period and they all passed the polygraph test. However, whatever the new evidence showed, a retrial of the case, involving the freed accused, was barred by the rule on double jeopardy.
There is where we stand today. After all the time, energy and resources expended by police officers, witnesses, prosecutors, defense lawyers, judges and justices, Lauro Vizconde, the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption and the millions of supporters of the murdered and raped victims—this is what we get: Nothing.
Surely, we cannot allow the perpetrators of this heinous crime to go unpunished. What reason did Filart and Ventura have for fleeing if they were innocent? If government officials concerned have decided to do nothing to bring this matter to a closure, what about private investigators and citizens taking up the cudgels for the victims in the interest of justice?
3 comments
j
sad for this family. He should be locked for life . I hope this family is reunited in heaven and divine justice will intercede with these murderers and rapists. And those two who ran away I hope they are suffering somewhere. The least they could do was admit their crime to bring closure and the family of the killers are worst .
President Duterte needs order to re-open the case and track the 2 missing suspects! Unbelievable to let these murders go unsolved! Investigate the Supreme Court judges who overturned the verdict!