I got involved in the case after Webb told me Hubert, whose name was slowly cropping up in news reports as a prime suspect, was in the United States when the dastardly crime happened. Alfaro had testified that she knew the suspects and was at the Vizconde house when the crime was committed. 176864), it became one of the most sensational cases in the Philippines, being described as a "trial of the century". No. To support this, Webb presented a Certification issued by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service of August 31, 1995 confirming that his entry into that country was recorded. September 7, 2010http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2010/september2010/182555.htm No. You will regret it.[58][59] Jack, a village security guard who kept records of the village where Webb lived said he saw Hubert Webb during the time of the massacre. On August 11, 1999, the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City acquitted two of them and convicted the five others, now collectively known as the Abadilla Five. Guillermo Lorenzo Guilor Eleazar, recently appointed chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), bows out on Nov. 13 this year when he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 56. Firstly, the SC held Alfaro was not a credible witness. Alfaro could not possibly prove the relationship between Hubert and Carmela, as they were strangers to each other, and Alfaro also could not have possibly identified the other accused because all of them were strangers to her. Alfaro implicated the children of wealthy and prominent families, including Hubert Webb, Antonio Lejano II, Hospicio Fernandez, Michael Gatchalian, Miguel Rodriguez, Peter Estrada, Joey Vffrillaret and Artemio Ventura. Lorenzo delos Santos was acquitted due to lack of evidence, but the RTC, the CA and the SC ignored that fact that the same positive identification it invoked in convicting the Abadilla Five came from exactly the same testimonies that have been used to acquit Delos Santos. May I invite you to watch?). Seven justices based its decision on the following points: Webb, citing Brady v. Maryland, said "that he is entitled to outright acquittal on the ground of violation of his right to due process given the States failure to produce on order of the Court either by negligence or willful suppression the semen specimen taken from Carmela." While washing Hubert Webb's clothing, Gaviola said she noticed fresh bloodstains on his shirt. [6][7][8] The suspects said they were tortured and forced to confess to the crime before they were presented by Filart to the media. But feeling uneasy, she decided to go up to the stockroom near Hubert's room to see what he was doing. The lower courts, the Supreme Court said, held that "Webb was actually in Paraaque when the Vizconde killings took place". [29], For the alibi to be established "the accused must prove by positive, clear, and satisfactory evidence that he was present at another place at the time of the perpetration of the crime, and that it was physically impossible for him to be at the scene of the crime". [11], The defense produced documents and presented 95 witnesses, including Hubert Webb himself and his father, along with other relatives and friends to support Webb's alibi that he was in the United States from March 9, 1991, to October 26, 1992. White was mistaken in saying that Gatchalian and company went in and out of the gated community many times, since they only entered once. The AHRC urges the SC to thoroughly review the pending final appeal of the accused in the Abadilla case. In the Philippines in 1992, the Vizconde Massacre, which saw the murder of multiple women who had been stabbed to death, created an investigation full of problems. In their alibis, Joel de Jesus claimed he was driving his passenger tricycle in Fairview, Quezon City the whole day; for SPO2 Cesar Fortuna, he was at Camp Crame (headquarters of the Philippine National Police, PNP) for official business and his presence was also corroborated by two police officials whom he had transacted business with; for Augusto Santos, he was at the Jose Fabella Hospital in Sta. De Lima also said seven new witnesses claimed they saw Webb in the country during the months of April, May and June 1991. We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. 1. Choose Gods endless kind of love., Hernandez also reminded Vizconde that he now had three saints in Heaven.. Nine years later, still no clarity on EDCA sites. The majority of the justices also rejected as conjecture the argument of one of the dissenting justices, Martin Villarama Jr., that it would not have been impossible during the interregnum for Webb to travel back to the country and again fly to the US several times considering that the travel time on board an airline from the Philippines to San Francisco, and from San Francisco to the Philippines takes only about twelve (12) to fourteen (14) hours. 2. They were sentenced to reclusion perpetua and ordered to indemnify the Vizconde family Php 3 million for the murders. TRUTH OUT, HEALING BEGINS. It strictly laid down these as the least requirement in evaluating the credibility of the claim of positive identification. Lauro Vizconde: "Is there still anyone among you who doubts that there is rampant corruption in our government? The court argued that the cited case has been superseded by Arizona v. Youngblood, "where the U.S. Supreme Court held that due process does not require the State to preserve the semen specimen although it might be useful to the accused unless the latter is able to show bad faith on the part of the prosecution or the police". The Truth about Mendiola Massacre - Philippine True Crime Stories | Martin Rules. It would be a serious miscarriage of justice and a demonstration of inequality before the law should jurisprudence not be applied equally. a contribution to Human Rights work, Asian Human Rights Commission The prosecution of this case only began in August 10, 1995, four years after the massacre happened, when Jessica Alfaro, an informant working for the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), told lawyer Artemio Sacaguing, an official of the NBI, that she knew someone who had the real story behind the Vizconde massacre. Cruz, Manila accompanying his brother-in-law, Jonas Padel Ayhon, whose wife had just given birth; and Rameses de Jesus and Lenido Lumanog had just left Manila for Mabalacat, Pampanga where they stayed until the evening of June 14. Webb's reliance on the presumption of regularity of official functions, stressing the fact that the US-INS certifications are official documents, is misplaced. Once again, the SCs applications of jurisprudence on the admissibility of forensic evidence in criminal trial have not been equally applied. 24, Rule 134, R. The remains of his wife and daughters were also exhumed from their grave at Holy Cross Memorial Park in Quezon City and transferred to his grave. I was a barbarian in my college years at the University of the Philippines. Manila Times Special Report on the Vizconde Case, G.R. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima yesterday said the government task force re-investigating the 1991 Vizconde massacre case has found another witness and was convincing him to come out in public and The prosecution did not present him as their witness during the trial. As to the failure to present the forensic evidence and its subsequent loss, the SC held: the semen specimen taken from Carmela cannot possibly lie. Make a difference. due to "overwhelming evidence that showed Webb and the other accused had conspired to rape Carmela and, in the process, kill her and the rest of the family." Massacre case in 1991 Webb was accused of raping Carmela Vizconde, 18, who was killed in her family's Paraaque home on June 30, 1991. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy. The court said the "portion of Alfaro's story appears tortured to accommodate the physical evidence of the ransacked house" adding that "it is a story made to fit in with the crime scene although robbery was supposedly not the reason Webb and his companions entered that house". It was based on the rule of the minority and not the majority as they (the SC justices) had enunciated in Fortich v. Police assets are often criminals themselves. Three days after that, he was allegedly approached by Mrs. Webb who reportedly told him, You did not see anything. A week after, Sen. Freddie Webb allegedly told him, You did not see anything. The Untold Story: Vizconde Massacre II - May the Lord Be with Us! The court also said the same for the issue of the garage light: she claimed that Ventura climbed the car's hood, using a chair, to turn the light off. Kaya laban lang tayo. The Vizconde Massacre was the multiple homicide of members of the Vizconde family on June 30, 1991 at their residence in BF Homes, Paraaque, Metro Manila, Philippines. The case was featured on a Philippine TV show Case Unclosed as its ninth episode, "Vizconde Massacre Case. [15] The accused alleged that by rejecting 132 of the 142 pieces of evidence, Tolentino had set the tone for their conviction. Rey and Jerry claimed they saw Webb playing basketball between the months of June and July 1991 during a league in BF Homes. InAbadilla case: The SC affirmed the CAs judgement as inconclusive the use of forensic evidence, for example, the fingerprints and ballistic test results, showing that none of the five accused had their fingerprints match to those extracted from the murder victims car. The other accused were Artemio Dong Ventura, Michael A. Gatchalian, Hospicio Pyke Fernandez, Peter Estrada, Miguel Ging Rodriguez, and Joey Filart. Sulu in the eyes of my good friend Princess Jacel Kiram is a potential eco-tourism destination and fruit basket of the country. Eh di sana may sweldo ako. In the Vizconde case, the SC does not accept conjecture as the basis of its decision. In a 38-page strongly-worded decision promulgated on Tuesday, the . [9] They were acquitted by a trial judge in September 1993 for insufficient evidence.[9]. [25][26], On December 14, 2010, the Supreme Court reversed the earlier judgment of the lower court and Court of Appeals and acquitted seven of the nine accused, including Hubert Webb, finding that the prosecution failed to prove that the accused were guilty beyond reasonable doubt. The case remained unsolved for almost four years until eyewitness, Jessica Alfaro Testified that Hubert Webb is the lead suspect and responsible of the crime committed. I did that hoping to make them have second thoughts about doing so,.There is no justice in the Philippines. "[29] In general, the court said that Alfaro's story "lacks sense or suffers from inherent inconsistencies. I am not an NBI agent nor an NBI asset. Alfaro said she was then having reservations when she first executed the first affidavit and held back vital information due to her natural reaction of mistrust. 185123/G.R. Six months is not enough for him to clean up the Aegean stable that is the PNP. The court considered the accused's "lack of interest in having such test done" in which they concluded that the state "cannot be deemed put on reasonable notice that it would be required to produce the semen specimen at some future time".[29]. This is a violation of the duty of state." But Custodio admits this may be easier said than done. His intention was very, very dubious, he said. At about 4 a.m. on June 30, 1991, Gaviola woke up and entered the bedrooms to get the Webb's dirty laundry and wash it as part of her job. It held that a positive declaration from a witness that he saw the accused commit the crime should not automatically cancel out the accuseds claim that he did not do it. He then hurled the little girl to a wall and started stabbing her. Acting solely on Alfaros testimony, the Department of Justice (DoJ) filed charges of rape with homicide against the eight accused on August 1995. No. This is despite questions to his credibility for receiving money and enjoying privileges while he was in Abadillas custody and the existence of inconsistencies in his testimonies in open court. Hopefully, if they will surface, public pressure will snowball and I will finally get the justice I am looking for, he said. [6], Alfaro's testimony coincided with the angle that was being explored by Supt. Suspicions, no matter how strong they are, must never sway judgment. The most significant topic that Ive ever written about and which I personally got involved in was the Vizconde massacre. My program is the originalsumbungan ng bayan sa radyo(roughly, citizens complaint center on radio). But in the Abadilla case, not only did the SC affird the CAs ruling in rejecting the defence of alibi, it did not also question the CAs formulation of conjectures on which it based its judgement. [23] On November 26, 2010, Lauro Vizconde voiced his concern to media about the purported lobbying of Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio for the reversal of the guilty verdict. Former NBI official Pedro Rivera however dismissed as lies the testimony of Sacaguing saying that Agent Sacaguing had a record of notoriety in the NBI which prompted his transfer to remote places of assignment until his early retirement. [57] The witnesses include an electrician, a drug dealer, a couple of neighborhood basketball players, a hairdresser and a village security guard. In a decision dated January 6, 2000, Paraaque Regional Trial Court Judge Amelita Tolentino convicted Webb and the co . Vizconde should go after the national government. Jennifer woke up and, seeing Webb violating her sister, jumped on him and bit him. The massacre and surrounding events were depicted in the 1993 film The Vizconde Massacre Story (God Help Us!) InAbadilla case: The SC admitted the positive identification of witness Freddie Alejo when it considered him a credible witness. Sign up now! Sison was ordered to desist from further investigating that angle by then Philippine National Police Capital Region Commander Marino Filart after six members of akyat bahay gang (burglars) were arrested by Regional Police Unit in October 1991. On June 30, 1991, three Vizconde women Estrellita, 49; her 19-year-old daughter, Carmela and the younger Jennifer, 6 were found dead in their home at BF Homes Village in Paraaque. Like Alejo, Herbas also at first instance identified Joel de Jesus as one of the gunmen during a police line-up but later withdraw his statement in open court. Defence of Alibi: In Vizconde case not admissible, in Abadilla case court acted on conjectures. Don't miss out on the latest news and information. De Lima said the evidence that showed Webb and any of the co-accused were in the country came from the magnetic reel tape (MRT) of the Philippine Bureau of Immigration (BI) where all records of incoming and outgoing passengers from the Philippines are recorded. 176389 / G.R. "[29], The court held that security guard Normal E. White, Jr.'s testimony was unreliable. Webb presented certifications from the U.S. Immigration but he failed to submit as evidence in court the original copy of his passport with immigration entry stamped on it. I told my family that I did my best. The presumption leaned on is disputable and can be overcome by evidence to the contrary. Massacre era. Credibility of a witness: In Vizconde case not credible, but credible in the Abadilla case. [3], The Inter-Agency Task Force assigned to reinvestigate Vizconde massacre case formed 6 teams or 3 parallel teams to look into 3 sets of suspects linked to the murders. Firstly, in the Vizconde case, the SC still held as credible the corroborating testimonies of the witnesses favouring Hubert Jeffrey who are mostly his relatives and friends in support of his defence of alibi. Aug 5, 2008. The SC also held that it was possible for Alfaro to know the details about the Vizconde killings because she had prior access to the details that the investigators knew of the case. G/F, 52 Princess Margaret Road The SCs decision in acquitting all the accused in the Vizconde case has fundamental contradictions to its earlier decision affirming the guilty verdict of the accused in the Abadilla case. vs. Raul de Leon et. [29], The court also held that the testimony of the Webb's maid, Mila Gaviola, was also unreliable since she was not able to distinguish if it was Hubert whom she saw on June 30, 1991, nor "did she remember any of the details that happened in the household on the other days".