He alleged that Webb bought illegal drugs from him on two other occasions in May 1991. Hong Kong [12] 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.[12][16]. Knowing this, I cannot but hesitate to swallow everything that Alejo said at the trial. He then hurled the little girl to a wall and started stabbing her. 187745. The 3 sets of suspects are: the Barroso Akyat-Bahay gang; the group of construction workers with engineer Danilo Agwas tagged as mastermind; SPO3 Angel Viaje, PO3 Rodolfo Colado, Ruben Pineda; and, the group of Hubert Webb. Remember that death is the ultimate equalizer. The Vizconde murder case, colloquially known as the Vizconde massacre, was the multiple homicide of members of the Vizconde family on June 30, 1991 at their residence at 80 Vinzons Street, BF Homes, Paraaque, Metro Manila, Philippines.Estrellita Vizconde, 49, suffered thirteen stab wounds; Maria Carmela Vizconde, 19, suffered seventeen stab wounds and had been raped before she was killed . Lauro Vizconde the husband of Estrellita and father of Carmela and Jennifer, was in the United State on business when the murders took place. No. Methinks one year would give Eleazar ample time impose his brand of discipline on one of the most undisciplined police forces in the world. This coincided with his passport and Philippine Immigration records but were dismissed by Tolentino due to belief that these documents can possibly be falsified. G/F, 52 Princess Margaret Road Alfaro, who had "practically lived" at the NBI's offices, would have been able to hear about the details, and gain access to the documents, without difficulty. Night of June 2930, 1991 Estrellita, Carmela and Jennifer Vizconde were killed in their Paraaque home; Carmela was found to have been raped. The Vizconde massacre, dubbed the crime of the 20th century, was my defining moment as a columnist and defender of the oppressed and those wrongfully accused. Youd be surprised who the people are behind the call for his extension; some of them are top politicians. al, 1995, G.R. Alejo had been under the Abadillas custody and protection instead of that of the WPP of the government. "[29] In general, the court said that Alfaro's story "lacks sense or suffers from inherent inconsistencies. I was a barbarian in my college years at the University of the Philippines. Police assets are often criminals themselves. ", The victims of the massacre (from left to right): Jennifer, Carmela, and Estrellita Vizconde, "The Vizconde massacre: Justice not served", "Lauro Vizconde to be buried in same grave with family Wednesday", "Manila Standard Google News Archive Search", "The Manila Times Internet Edition SPECIAL REPORT > Questions linger in Vizconde case", The Philippine Daily Inquirer, December 31, 2010, "Philippine Daily Inquirer Google News Archive Search", "NBI exec: We've turned over semen specimen from Vizconde girl to court", "2 SC justices asked to go on leave pending Vizconde decision", "SC sues for time, defers ruling on Vizconde case", Philippine Daily Inquirer, SC Acquits Webb et al, "Supreme Court decision on Webb et al re Vizconde Massacre", Lauro Vizconde in tears, Webbs on 'cloud nine', Gary, Kris speak up on Hubert's acquittal, Outrage over decision, sympathy for Vizconde, Ruling raises more questions, lawyers point out, Vizconde kin question why Webb was released so quickly, Alfaro unwilling to testifying anew in Vizconde case Jessica Alfaro stands by story, Criminal law experts umalma sa pag-absuwelto ng SC kay Webb, Ex-VP Guingona to SC: Reverse Webb's acquittal to give justice to Vizconde, "Another 'Joey Filart' still under detention", "New Vizconde massacre witnesses surface", New witnesses to prove Webb in PH during Vizconde massacre, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Hubert Webb seeks P180K compensation for 'unlawful' conviction, NBI, PNP teams probe 3 sets of Vizconde slay suspects, Vizconde massacre has new set of witnesses, Evidence, witnesses 'shatter' Webb alibi: task force, DoJ chief: No credible proof of Webb in crime scene, De Lima hints at explosive breakthrough in Vizconde probe. So how can such accused penetrate a mind that has been made cynical by the rule drilled into his head that a defense of alibi is a hangmans noose in the face of a witness positively swearing. A second movie, The Untold Story: Vizconde Massacre II May The Lord Be With Us, was released in 1994 and starred Vina Morales as Carmela and Joko Daz as an assailant. 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. It strictly laid down these as the least requirement in evaluating the credibility of the claim of positive identification. Nine years later, still no clarity on EDCA sites. [29] Webb was among the nine people convicted by Paranaque Regional Trial Court Branch 274 Presiding Judge Amelita Tolentino in January 2000 for the killings. 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. She did not show up at the NBI as a spontaneous witness (only after four years) bothered by her conscience. vs. Raul de Leon et. Anyone can be paid! : Directed by Carlo J. Caparas. 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. When she could not produce the person, Sacaguing continued to press her saying that she might as well assume the role of her informant.. 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. [60] De Lima believed Dong Villadolid is the same person as Dong Ventura, one of the co-accused who fled to the US following the massacre. Eighteen-year-old daughter Carmela was raped, and had 17 stab wounds. Alfaro had testified that she knew the suspects and was at the Vizconde house when the crime was committed. She also said that Bing was accosting Ging Rodriguez on why he had to stab and kill a young girl. The Truth about Mendiola Massacre - Philippine True Crime Stories | Martin Rules. . No. Inconsistencies: In Vizconde case damages credibility, in Abadilla case does not. This contradicted Hubert Webb's claim that he was in the United States from March 9, 1991, to October 27, 1992. VIZCONDE MASSACRE: 20 YEARS, TWO FACES OF JUSTICE Report by Maki Pulido It is one of the most controversial cases in the country's history, the most shocking crime in the 90s - the Vizconde Massacre. 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. The Supreme Court acquitted them on Dec. 14, 2010. And while justice seems elusive, life must go on, Vizcondes grandniece Katherine Asuncion said, reading from a family statement. The Vizconde murders remained unsolved for almost four years, until eyewitness Jessica Alfaro, a self-confessed former drug addict, came forward on April 28, 1995, to shed light on the massacre. Like Herbas, court records had also shown that Alejo has been receiving money and free accommodation from the Abadillas. Am I dismayed by the decision of the (Supreme Court)? People cried for justice for the Vizcondes and one of the suspects was Hubert Webb, son of then Paraaque congressman Freddie Webb, who later became a senator. In the Vizconde case, the SC does not accept conjecture as the basis of its decision. 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". There was only one vital witness for the prosecution, Freddie Alejo. Webbs co-accused, Antonio Lejano, is a son of a known singer and celebrity. [5] The other defendants were convicted by the Paraaque Regional Trial Court, which the Court of Appeals affirmed. June 30, 1991 for a bicycle he bought from a store in Orange County, Los Angeles, California. Jennifer Diaz, chief of the women and childrens desk, told Allan to file the complaint with the barangay where they reside. A second movie, The Untold Story: Vizconde Massacre II, was released in 1994. The film claims to have been based on new evidence from the then-ongoing trial. 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. [citation needed] (The Philippine Rules of Evidence require official attestation of the authenticity of any public document presented in evidence; as per Sec. ), Among evidence that was not admitted by Judge Tolentino, was the note verbale from the United States Embassy in Manila claiming that Webb entered the United States in March 1991 and left in October 1992. The most significant topic that Ive ever written about and which I personally got involved in was the Vizconde massacre. Welcome to my maiden column in TheSTAR, now the countrys No. Jennifer woke up and, seeing Webb violating her sister, jumped on him and bit him. Six months is not enough for him to clean up the Aegean stable that is the PNP. References: Alibi cannot prevail over the positive identification of a credible witness [140].. The court also amended the award of damages from 100,000 pesos to 200,000 pesos, and also upheld the conviction of Biong as accessory to the crime "by abusing his public functions to conceal and destroy the physical evidence in order to prevent the discovery of the crime and by allowing the destruction of the physical evidence, Biong facilitated the escape of the principal accused. [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. "I doubt that at this time, physical evidence will be available because a lapse of time has taken place, but that's the only way we can find the true killers." Run after Alfaro But Villaramas opinion was not considered by the SC in their majority decision. 121234 Hubert Webb et al. White, on the other hand, said he saw the three cars enter the subdivision on the night of June 29, as Alfaro had testified; White also testified that policeman Gerardo Biong was the first to arrive at the crime scene. [4] In the Trial Court (People of the Philippines vs. Hubert Webb, et al., G.R. 1 newspaper in terms of circulation and readership. Di naman ako puwede magtrabaho don (If that's the case, then I should have had a salary. Biong was released from jail on November 30, 2010, after serving his sentence. The Vizconde Massacre. But the grieving father couldn't distinguish the truth from the lies. [52] On June 14, 2011, Hubert Webb filed a P180,000 compensation claim for "unlawful conviction" for the Vizconde massacre. The Vizconde massacre, dubbed the crime of the 20th century, was my defining moment as a columnist and defender of the oppressed and those. Reporters jostled with Vizcondes relatives and friends in his garage, where Fr. In the said stockroom, there is a small door going to Hubert's room and in that door there is a small opening where she used to see Hubert and his friends sniffing on something. De Lima said they could still go after Filart and Ventura, as well as the Villadolid brothers, since the prescriptive period of 20 years for homicide does not apply to them because they were abroad. But big offenses, such as rape or attempted rape, should be filed with the police or the prosecutors office. The Vizconde murder case, colloquially known as the Vizconde massacre, was the multiple homicide of members of the Vizconde family on June 30, 1991 at their residence at 80 Vinzons Street, BF Homes, Paraaque, Metro Manila, Philippines. MANILA, Philippines - A former policeman who was jailed for allegedly tampering with evidence in the 1991 Vizconde massacre insists he is innocent of any crime after being released from prison Tuesday. 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. Both Webb and del Toro could not describe in court what Hubert's work was, Tolentino said. Birrer said she had accompanied Biong to the Vizconde house to destroy the evidence and to retrieve Webb's jacket and the murder weapon. Still seeking justice for his family's grim fate, Lauro Vizconde exhausts all resources available to him. 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. [2][3] Estrellita Vizconde, 49, suffered thirteen stab wounds; Carmela Vizconde, 19, suffered seventeen stab wounds and had been raped before she was killed; and Anne Marie Jennifer, 6, had nineteen stab wounds. God does not teach us to retaliate. The story of the Vizconde Massacre wasn't just a single story; it varied as told by a number of witnesses. It was also not true that there was no showing that he (Alejo) was actuated by improper motive to testify falsely against the accused because the defence had since been challenging his credibility during the trial. [19], The Court of Appeals' Third Division voted 32 to deny Webb's motion for reconsideration and upheld the ruling of Judge Tolentino on December 16, 2005. It is said that being elected president is a gift from God. Massacre era. Indeed, her superior testified that she volunteered to play the role of a witness in the Vizconde killings when she could not produce a man she promised to the NBI. [11], Alfaro's testimony was corroborated by other witnesses including: 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. At the end of February, the Bureau of Fire Protection held a parade featuring some of its trucks and equipment as well as new regular personnel: women firefighters. [60], Although Webb's group can no longer be retried because of double jeopardy, De Lima said the purpose of the reinvestigation was to uncover the truth and bring closure to Lauro Vizconde.[65][66]. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. I did that hoping to make them have second thoughts about doing so,.There is no justice in the Philippines. No. 124871, May 13, 2004. The fight is not over. As a result, the court reverses the decision of the Court of Appeals, and acquits Webb, et al. InVizconde case: The SC has given weight to the importance of forensic evidence in a court trial. Their original conviction was capital punishment but their sentence was modified to life imprisonment when the death penalty was abolished. In rejecting questions to Alejos credibility, the SC affirmed the CAs ruling that the credible testimony of a lone witness(es) assumes more weight when there is no showing that he was actuated by improper motive to testify falsely against the accused, as in the case of Freddie Alejo. About the Show; You May Also Like . Unreliability of Jessica Alfaro's testimony: Alfaro had prior knowledge on the facts of the case having been an, Alfaro was not able to explain why the house was ransacked if robbery was not the motive of Webb and his group, Unreliability of testimony from other witnesses, Alfaro's testimony will fall apart if Webb was not at the crime scene and will relieve the others accused of the crime. Alfaro also said that she bumped into Biong at the Faces Disco in Makati in March 1995 and relayed to her the offer of the group to give her a free ticket to the United States to shut her up. Alfaro, upon explaining on how the house was ransacked, (the Paraaque police had earlier blamed house robbers as suspects), said that Ventura was looking for the front-door key and the car key. Philstar Global Corp. All Rights Reserved. The presumption leaned on is disputable and can be overcome by evidence to the contrary. [139] Against positive evidence, alibi becomes most unsatisfactory. Secondly, the SC affirmed the CAs assertion that Alejo was a credible witness ignoring the questions to his credibility by arguing that: positive and unequivocal declaration is sufficient to support a conviction for murder against appellants. [61], The findings also point to another set of suspects, namely Dong Villadolid and his brother Bing. The jurisprudence mentioned above that the SC invoked has not been equally applied. I stand by my story. Nos. She said the US-based defense witnesses, most of whom are relatives or friends of the Webb family suffered from "incorrigible and selective memory syndrome". Thus, it was not surprising for Alfaro to testify with great details in court. No. InAbadilla case: The SC admitted the positive identification of witness Freddie Alejo when it considered him a credible witness. It is hard to believe this there is a record of supposed arrival from other country but no record of departure in 1991 or in any month of 1991, she said. vs. People of the Philippines et al., 1997, G.R. She had been hanging around that agency for sometime as a stool pigeon, one paid for mixing up with criminals and squealing on them. Kung di ninyo ako pinabayaan, 'di ako magkakaganito. (Fuck you all! Philstar.com is one of the most vibrant, opinionated, discerning communities of readers on cyberspace. Those initially jailed for. 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". ), 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. Let the love of God prevail. 182555/G.R. Lejano and Ventura also took turns raping Carmela, before finishing her off with numerous stabs. "[29], The court maintained that for a person to be convicted there should not be "a reasonable, lingering doubt as to his guilt." Sulu in the eyes of my good friend Princess Jacel Kiram is a potential eco-tourism destination and fruit basket of the country. 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 2930, 1991 and then departed for the US again, and returning to the Philippines in October 1992. September 7, 2010http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2010/september2010/182555.htm Conjectures and suspicions are not facts, hence, they have no evidentiary value. It would be a serious miscarriage of justice and a demonstration of inequality before the law should jurisprudence not be applied equally. In a decision dated January 6, 2000, Paraaque Regional Trial Court Judge Amelita Tolentino convicted Webb and the co . I stood my ground because I had all the facts in my hand. Hello friends! Justice Villarama argued that a photocopy of Webbs passport in court to support his alibi and the testimonies of witnesses, mostly his relatives and friends, could not be given merit, by cautioning his fellow justices that it can be gleaned from the fact that passports and plane tickets indicating dates of arrival and departure do not necessarily prove that the very same person actually took the flight and added that indeed, alibi cannot be sustained where it is not only without credible corroboration, but also where it does not, on its face, demonstrate the physical impossibility of the accuseds presence at the place and time of the commission of the crime. 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. 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. The case was featured on a Philippine TV show Case Unclosed as its ninth episode, "Vizconde Massacre Case. 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. But to Judge Amelita Tolentino of the Paranaque Regional Trial Court, the truth was the account of star witness Jessica Alfaro. :Isumbongwill make a comeback on PTV-4 on June 12, 2021. It cautioned itself from accepting the testimonies of witnesses without applying these tests. Alfaro testified that as Webb followed Carmela into the dining room, she decided to step outside for a smoke. It held that the acquittal of their co-accused does not necessarily benefit the appellants. We have ruled that accused-appellant may not invoke the acquittal of the other conspirators to merit the reversal of his conviction for murder. The Jessica Alfaro Story in 1995 was meanwhile focused on the star witness, portrayed by Alice Dixson. TRUTH OUT, HEALING BEGINS. He and six others spent 15 years in jail. A lying witness can make as positive an identification as a truthful witness can. The trial began in August 1995 before Paraaque RTC Judge Amelita Tolentino.