RAPE & HOMICIDE: SC ACQUITTED WEBB, 5 OTHERS / VISCONDE MASSACRE STORY
[PHOTO - Former senator Freddie Webb leads son Hubert out of the New Bilibid Prisons after the Supreme Court acquitted the younger Webb and five others yesterday. JONJON VICENCIO]
MANILA, DECEMBER 15, 2010 (STAR) By Edu Punay - After 15 years behind bars, Hubert Webb and five others convicted for the sensational Vizconde massacre in 1991 walked out of prison yesterday after being cleared by the Supreme Court (SC).
Voting 7-4 with four abstentions, the High Court ruled that Parañaque Regional Trial Court Branch 274 judge and now Court of Appeals Justice Amelita Tolentino erred in handing down in January 2000 a guilty verdict on Webb, Hospicio "Pyke" Fernandez, Antonio "Tony Boy" Lejano, Michael Gatchalian, Peter Estrada, and Miguel "Ging" Rodriguez for the crime of rape with homicide.
The SC's ruling covered former policeman Gerardo Biong who was released last month after serving his 12-year sentence for destroying evidence including bloodstained clothing.
The CA upheld Tolentino's ruling on Dec. 15, 2005.
"They should be released soon unless they are held for any other unlawful cause," court administrator and SC spokesman Jose Midas Marquez told a press conference.
"There is no more motion for reconsideration that can be filed. That would be tantamount to double jeopardy," he added.
Marquez stressed that even if guilt was not proven beyond reasonable doubt, the freed convict cannot be automatically considered innocent.
He added that Webb and the other convicts may claim damages from the government for being wrongly imprisoned.
"They would have to file a separate case for that, and their claims would have to be proven," Marquez said.
Marquez also vehemently denied allegations of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption that money changed hands in the acquittal of Webb and the six others.
"It would be better if they read the majority decision," he said.
He declined to comment when asked if VACC founding chair Dante Jimenez could be penalized for hurling profanities at the justices in a press conference.
'Lingering doubt'
The 38-page decision penned by Associate Justice Roberto Abad cited "reasonable and lingering doubt on the guilt of the accused" as well as "failure of prosecution to establish the guilt beyond reasonable doubt."
"In our criminal justice system, what is important is, not whether the court entertains doubts about the innocence of the accused since an open mind is willing to explore all possibilities, but whether it entertains a reasonable, lingering doubt as to his guilt. For it would be a serious mistake to send an innocent man to jail where such kind of doubt hangs on to one's inner being, like a piece of meat lodged immovable between teeth," the SC stressed.
Six magistrates concurred with the ruling: Associate Justices Conchita Carpio-Morales, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Jose Perez, Jose Mendoza and Ma. Lourdes Sereno.
The SC also cited "inherent inconsistencies" in the testimony of Jessica Alfaro, saying she was an asset of the National Bureau of Investigation and that she was coached to testify after she presented herself as replacement of a witness she had promised but failed to produce.
"Alfaro was the NBI's star witness, their badge of excellent investigative work. After claiming that they had solved the crime of the decade, the NBI people had a stake in making her sound credible and obviously, they gave her all the preparations she needed for the job of becoming a fairly good substitute witness," it explained.
"But was it possible for Alfaro to lie with such abundant details, some of which even tallied with the physical evidence at the scene of the crime? No doubt, yes," the SC added.
The SC cited for instance Alfaro's error in personally identifying Rodriguez. She pinpointed a certain Michael Rodriguez in a police lineup, a drug dependent from the Bicutan Rehabilitation Center.
"She ran berserk, slapping and kicking Michael, exclaiming, 'How can I forget your face. We just saw each other in a disco one month ago and you told me then that you will kill me' but as it turned out, he was not the Miguel Rodriguez the accused in this case," it recalled.
Another inconsistency in Alfaro's testimony, according to the High Court, was her claim that she left the house and went to her car because she was afraid to be caught. But this was inconsistent with her subsequent claim that she went back to the house to watch Webb rape Carmela on the floor of the master's bedroom and kill Carmela's mother and younger sister.
Alfaro then testified that she got scared again and went out of the house after Webb gave her a threatening look.
"This emotional pendulum swing indicates a witness who was confused with her own lies," the SC stressed.
Webb in the US
The High Court also believed Webb's alibi that he was in the US when the crime was committed on June 29, 1991, saying documents supported his claim.
"Alfaro's quality as a witness and her inconsistent, if not inherently unbelievable, testimony cannot be the positive identification that jurisprudence acknowledges as sufficient to jettison a denial and an alibi," it stressed.
The SC ruled that the documents submitted by Webb's lawyers during the trial, including two immigration checks showing he left for San Francisco in California on March 9, 1991 and returned to the country on Oct. 26, 1992, were authentic.
"The prosecution did not bother to present evidence to impeach the entries in Webb's passport and the certifications of the Philippine and US immigration services regarding his travel to the US and back. The prosecution's rebuttal evidence of the fear of the unknown (was) planted in the lower court's minds," the SC added.
Dissenting opinion
Chief Justice Renato Corona dissented along with Associate Justices Martin Villarama Jr., Teresita Leonardo-de Castro and Arturo Brion.
In an 88-page dissenting opinion penned by Justice Villarama, the minority upheld the findings of the RTC and CA that Alfaro's testimony was credible.
Villarama said five witnesses had corroborated Alfaro's testimony.
"Appellants' (Webb and co-accused) presence at the scene of the crime before, during and after its commission was duly established. Their respective participation, acts and declarations were likewise detailed by Alfaro, who was shown to be a credible witness," he said.
Villarama said Webb's defense of "alibi" that he was in the US from March 9, 1991 to Oct. 26, 1992 "is inherently weak."
"Given the financial resources and political influence of his family, it was not unlikely that Webb could have traveled back to the Philippines before June 29-30, 1991 and then departed for the US again, and returning to the Philippines in October 1992," Villarama said.
"There clearly exists, therefore, such possibility of Webb's presence at the scene of the crime at the time of its commission, and his excuse cannot be deemed airtight," he added.
According to Villarama, Webb's travel documents were "unreliable proof of his absence in the Philippines at the time of the commission of the crime charged."
"The non-submission in evidence of his original passport, which was not formally offered and made part of the records, had deprived the RTC, CA and this Court the opportunity to examine the same. Such original is a crucial piece of evidence which unfortunately was placed beyond judicial scrutiny," Villarama said.
He also said the existence of conspiracy among the accused was "satisfactorily proven by the prosecution."
Four other magistrates inhibited from the case – Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Associate Justices Mariano del Castillo, Presbitero Velasco Jr. and Antonio Eduardo Nachura.
Carpio had testified during trial while Nachura had handled the case when he was still solicitor general. Del Castillo opted not to take part in the voting since his wife had served as lawyer for one of the accused, while Velasco is related to one of the parties in the case, according to Marquez.
No need to air stand
President Aquino said he sympathized with Vizconde but said it was up to the SC to explain its decision to the public.
"Initially of course we sympathize with Mr. Lauro Vizconde. I asked for a brief to be prepared," the President said in a text message.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said it was not for Malacañang to comment on why it took the courts 19 years to decide on the case with finality or on why the accused had been convicted in the first place.
"The Palace has no position one way or the other on the Vizconde case. We leave it entirely to the parties to comment on that," he added.
Lacierda said it was irrelevant that the final ruling on the case was done under the Aquino administration.
"The case was decided based on the assessment of the justices on the appeal. So we can't comment any further than that. Again, it's a decision made entirely by a separate branch of government so we leave it up to them," he said.
Meanwhile, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Raul Bacalzo said the police organization respects the decision of the SC.
"We respect the wisdom of the justices and the decision of highest court of the land," said Bacalzo in a text message to The STAR. "While we commiserate with the Vizconde family and denounce the tragic incident, we are bound by the democratic principles under the Constitution that the SC is the final arbiter," he said.
"I can only hope and pray that justice will in the end be served," the PNP chief pointed out.
Senor Superintendent Noel Baraceros, PNP deputy spokesman, said the PNP is updating its guidelines for criminal investigation. Biong, a former policeman, mishandled evidence in the Vizconde trial and got convicted for it.
"The PNP has already issued guidelines and an investigation manual, which is continuously being updated," Baraceros told The STAR.
"In addition the PNP is conducting different investigation courses both locally and abroad to enhance investigative capabilities of our personnel." With Aurea Calica and Cecille Suerte Felipe
FROM WIKIPEDIA
VISCONDE MASSACRE STORY - CIRCA 1991
The Vizconde Massacre was the multiple homicide of members of the Vizconde family on June 30, 1991 at their house in BF Homes, Parañaque City, Philippines. Estrellita(47 y.o.) had suffered thirteen stab wounds; Carmela(18 y.o.), seventeen stab wounds and had been raped before she was killed; and Jennifer(7 y.o.), nineteen stab wounds. Lauro Vizconde, the father, was in the United States for business when the murders took place.
The case became one of the most sensational in the country mostly because the accused were children of rich and influential families. The suspects were Hubert Webb, son of actor/former basketball player/former Senator Freddie Webb; Antonio Lejano II, son of actress-singer Pinky de Leon and nephew of actor Christopher de Leon; Hospicio Fernandez, son of a retired commodore; Michael Gatchalian and Miguel Rodriguez, sons of prominent lawyers; Peter Estrada, son of a wealthy businessman, Joey Filart, believed to be related to former National Capital Region Command chief Marino Filart; and Artemio Ventura, son of a wealthy businessman. They were convicted by a lower court and the Philippine Court of Appeals but were later acquitted by the Philippine Supreme Court on December 14, 2010.
Trial
The case remained unsolved for almost four years until witness Jessica Alfaro, a self-confessed former drug addict, came forward on April 28, 1995 to shed light on the killing of the Vizcondes. Alfaro had testified that she knew the suspects and was at the Vizconde house when the crime was committed. By Alfaro's account, after a drug session with the group, Hubert Webb had hatched his plan to rape Carmela. Webb wanted Alfaro, then girlfriend of one of the accused Peter Estrada, to join them because Carmela's mother only allowed her daughter to go out and entertain female visitors. Alfaro recounted that as Webb followed Carmela into the dining room, she decided to step outside for a smoke. From there she saw Lejano and Ventura take a knife from the kitchen drawer, while the rest of the gang acted as lookouts. Alfaro said Estrellita was killed before Webb began to rape Carmela. Jennifer was roused from sleep and, seeing Webb violating her sister, she jumped on Webb's back. This angered Webb, who hurled the little girl to a wall and started stabbing her. Alfaro said that when she went back to the house, she saw the bodies of Estrellita and Jennifer on the bed and Webb raping Carmela on the floor. Lejano and Ventura also took turns raping Carmela, before finishing her off with numerous stabs. According to the footage of the trial, Alfaro had been able to identify all the defendants by their names. However, it was noted by the defense that Alfaro admitted to being under the influence of drugs when she allegedly witnessed the crime and had made inconsistent statements on her two affidavits.
Besides Alfaro, the prosecution also relied heavily on the testimony of the Webbs' housemaids, Mila Gaviola and Nerissa Rosales, who both testified that Hubert was at home on June 30, 1991. At about 4 a.m. on June 30, 1991, Gaviola woke up and entered the bedrooms to get the Webbs' dirty laundry and wash it as part of her job. She said that when she entered Hubert's room, she saw him wearing only his pants, awake and smoking in bed. While washing Hubert's clothes, Gaviola said she noticed fresh bloodstains on his shirt. Other prosecution witnesses were: Carlos J. Cristobal who alleged that on March 9, 1991 he was a passenger of United Airlines Flight No. 808 bound for New York and who expressed doubt on whether Hubert Webb was his co-passenger in the trip; Lolita Birrer, a former live-in partner of policeman Gerardo Biong, who narrated the manner of how Biong investigated and tried to cover up the crime. Birrer said she had accompanied Biong to the Vizconde house to destroy the evidence and to retrieve Webb's jacket and the murder weapon. She also testified that Biong received money at a house that she later learned belonged to then Parañaque Congressman Freddie Webb; Security guards Justo Cabanacan and Normal White. Cabanacan said Webb had entered the subdivision a few days before the massacre and that he even identified himself as the son of then Congressman Webb. White, on the other hand, said he saw the three cars enter the subdivision on the night of June 29, as Alfaro had testified; Belen Dometita and Teofilo Minoza, two of the Vizconde maids; and Manciano Gatmaitan, an engineer.
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. On October 1, 1996, Judge Amelita Tolentino admitted only 10 of the 142 pieces of evidence the defense presented. Among evidence that was not admitted by Judge Tolentino, was the note verbale from the United States Embassy claiming that Webb was in the United States at the time of the massacre. This coincided with his passport and Philippine Immigration records but were dismissed by Tolentino's court, due to belief that these documents can possibly be falsified. Tolentino stated that she would accept this evidence only if then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright would testify as to the veracity of the note verbale's contents. Moreover, Judge Tolentino also denied Webb's request to subject semen samples to DNA testing on the belief that the samples may no longer be intact. The accused alleged that by rejecting 132 of the 142 pieces of evidence, Tolentino had set the tone for their conviction. On July 24, 1997, the Supreme Court noted that Tolentino erred when she refused to admit the 132 pieces of evidence presented by the defense, although these were later admitted in court through an order issued by Tolentino.
[edit] Decision On January 6, 2000, Judge Tolentino rendered her decision, sentencing Hubert Webb, Peter Estrada, Hospicio Fernandez, Michael Gatchalian, Antonio Lejano II and Miguel Rodriguez to life imprisonment. They were also ordered to indemnify the Vizconde family Php 3 million for the murders. In her decision, Judge Tolentino described the testimony of many defense witnesses as full of inconsistencies. Photographs and videotapes showing Webb in America also appeared to be tampered, Tolentino said. Two of the accused remain fugitives from the law; Joey Filart and Artemio Ventura. Also found guilty of burning bedsheets and tampering with other evidence in the crime was Gerardo Biong, a Paranaque City policeman. He was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. Biong was released from jail on November 30, 2010.
The victim's family has yet to receive a single peso.
Webb's Appeal Court of Appeals
The Philippine Court of Appeals voted 3-2 to deny Webb's motion for reconsideration and upheld the ruling of Judge Tolentino on December 16, 2005.
Supreme Court In April 2010, the Philippine Supreme court approved DNA testing to be performed on the semen specimen obtained during autopsy from the victims. This has resulted in the revelation by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) that they no longer had the specimens as these were remanded to the Parañaque courts.
On October 8, 2010, Webb filed an urgent motion for acquittal.
The Supreme Court, on December 14, 2010, reversed the earlier judgment of the lower court and Court of Appeals and acquitted seven of the nine accused, including Hubert Webb, upon finding that the prosecution failed to prove that the accused were guilty beyond reasonable doubt. The High Court put to question the quality of the testamentary evidence furnished by the witnesses. No acquittal has been made as to the two accused, Filart and Ventura, who remain at-large. Of the 15 justices, 7 voted for acquittal while four dissented and four others abstained from participating.
On December 14, 2010, Hubert Webb and the rest of the convicted were released.
In popular culture The case was featured on a Philippine TV show Case Unclosed as its 9th episode entitled "Vizconde Massacre Case." It was made into a movie in 1993 entitled Vizconde Massacre: God Help Us! starring Kris Aquino as Carmela Vizconde and The Jessica Alfaro Story in 1995 portrayed by Alice Dixson.
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