The San Jose police station eventually received and filed the complaint with the prosecutors office in Batangas City, only after my staff at Isumbong mo kay Tulfo told them Diazs arrogance would reach Camp Crame. Connections Followed by The Untold Story: Vizconde Massacre II - May the Lord Be with Us! Episode on July 5, 2011 Tuesday after Saksi! Webb wanted Alfaro, the then-girlfriend of one of the accused men, Peter Estrada, to join them because Estrellita Vizconde only allowed her daughter to go out and entertain female visitors. Webb had presented the alibi that he was in the United States when the crime was committed, but he was still found guilty by the Paraaque Regional Trial Court. I expected this decision because since the start, I knew that Jessica Alfaro was not entirely telling the truth. His intention was very, very dubious, he said. This page was last edited on 8 February 2023, at 03:37. 24, Rule 134, R. The court said that Alfaro was not a credible witness and that her "story of what she personally saw must be believable, not inherently contrived". According to Rivera, Sacaguing was never part of the NBI team assigned to investigate the Vizconde massacre and that his former colleague took Alfaro's statement in April 1995 without the presence of a lawyer. My program is the originalsumbungan ng bayan sa radyo(roughly, citizens complaint center on radio). Still seeking justice for his family's grim fate, Lauro Vizconde exhausts all resources available to him. [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. 176864), it became one of the most sensational cases in the Philippines, being described as a "trial of the century". By providing an email address. I am not an NBI agent nor an NBI asset. This was a case that was solved nine years after the murders and then unsolved 10 years later. ), 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 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. [2][12] Security guards Justo Cabanacan and Normal White. Policewoman Diaz even insulted Allan, saying he had no right to file the attempted rape complaint on behalf of the girl, because he was only the stepfather. By her account, after a drug session with the group, Webb allegedly had hatched his plan to rape Carmela Vizconde. All rights are reserved. Alejos testimonies in open court were also not consistent to what he had said to the police investigators immediately after the murder. "[29], The court maintained that for a person to be convicted there should not be "a reasonable, lingering doubt as to his guilt." Tolentino also found it hard to believe that Webb was working with a pesticide company because he was asthmatic and allergic to various substances. Under the law, prosecutors of a murder case are given 20 years from the time it occurred or the time it was discovered to identify suspects and charge them in court. On January 4, 2000, the Regional Trial Court of Paranaque City rendered its judgement finding all the accused guilty as charged imposing a penalty of life imprisonment. It was hard to tell which made up the truth and the lies. October 1, 1996 Judge Amelita Tolentino of the Paraaque RTC rejected 132 of the defense's 142 pieces of evidence. But feeling uneasy, she decided to go up to the stockroom near Hubert's room to see what he was doing. I stand by my story. Pray to them. Acting solely on Alfaros testimony, the Department of Justice (DoJ) filed charges of rape with homicide against the eight accused on August 1995. I found this As of yesterday, police had arrested and filed criminal charges against six fraternity members suspected to have beaten to death John Matthew Salilig in a twisted concept ofbrotherhood. [60] Mario, a hair stylist during the period June 1991, testified that Webb, along with Tony Boy Lejano and Dong Ventura had their haircut. Ateneo law professor Alan Paguia: "The order of release is questionable as it appears to be undemocratic. 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. [51] On March 18, Hubert Webb filed a lawsuit against Jessica Alfaro for false testimony at the Paraaque Prosecutor's Office. It strictly laid down these as the least requirement in evaluating the credibility of the claim of positive identification. Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer & other 70+ titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am & share articles on social media. She said that when she entered Hubert's room, she saw him wearing only his pants, awake and smoking in bed. ABADILLA MURDER CASE: This case is about the murder of Rolando Abadilla, a police colonel during Marcos regime, at 8:30 on June 13, 1996 at the Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City. G.R. Who does forget the heart-crushing 1991 Visconde massacre, with Jessica Alfaro standing as the star witness, whistle-blowing the details how these young men before, coming from our society's influential families, killed Mang Lauro's wife and his two daughters. After the shooting, he could have easily and quickly transferred to Camp Crame between 9:00 and 9:30 in the morning. TRUTH OUT, HEALING BEGINS. Anyone can be paid! Credibility of a witness: In Vizconde case not credible, but credible in the Abadilla case. Early Thursday, Lauro Vizconde went to Holy Cross Memorial Park and laid bouquets of roses on the tombs of his wife and daughters. The Vizconde massacre, dubbed the crime of the 20th century, was my defining moment as a columnist and defender of the oppressed and those. On the acquittal of Lorenzo delos Santos, the accused whom Alejo had also positively identified, it ruled that his acquittal did not damage Alejos credibility; and his positive identification of the accused. It was Alejo who had positively identified Joel and Lorenzo (delos Santos) during a police line-up. 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. Pitong, an electrician who since 1982, already knew the Webb family claimed he saw a laundry woman wash a bloodied T-shirt on the morning of the crime. Shades of what happened in the 2004 elections, when a national official was paid a huge sum to run under a political party. Webbs son, Hubert Jeffrey, is also the brother of a television host, Pinky, in one of the largest television networks in the country. vs. Raul de Leon et. De Lima also said seven new witnesses claimed they saw Webb in the country during the months of April, May and June 1991. On April this year, the Webbs filed an urgent motion to acquit when they found out that the NBI no longer has custody of the specimen that was taken from the body of the rape victim, Carmela Visconde. The lead suspect was Hubert Webb whose father, Freddie Webb was famous as an actor, former basketball player, and Paraaque congressman at the time of the murders. This site uses cookies. 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. Webbs co-accused, Antonio Lejano, is a son of a known singer and celebrity. The Supreme Court acquitted them on Dec. 14, 2010. The story of the Vizconde Massacre wasn't just a single story; it varied as told by a number of witnesses. (P.S. 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. On December 14, 2010, the SC rendered its decision on the appeals of the accused, questioning the guilty verdict by the RTC and the CA. 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. Based on the infamous and seemingly never ending 1991 Vizconde murder case in the Philippines where a woman and her two children; a teen daughter who was also raped and a 6-year-old, were all viciously stabbed to death while the husband was away in America on business. [2] Alfaro said that policeman Gerardo Biong "was instructed by Webb, in my presence, to take care of the house where the incident happened". Powered by, Appendix: Case analysis: Supreme Courts rulings on Vizconde and Abadilla cases are contradictory, http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2010/december2010/176389.htm, http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2010/september2010/182555.htm, http://campaigns.ahrchk.net/abadilla5/docs/A5-FinalAppealPetition.pdf, http://campaigns.ahrchk.net/abadilla5/docs/A5-CAdecision.pdf. 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." Forensic evidence: In Vizconde case it cannot lie, in Abadilla case it is inconclusive. The AHRC urges the SC to thoroughly review the pending final appeal of the accused in the Abadilla case. The SC acquitted all the accused, reversing and dismissing the guilty verdict of the RTC and the CA. 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