Friday, December 31, 2010

161: News: Lauro Vizconde firm in belief Webb massacred his family

abs-cbnNews.com



MANILA, Philippines - The camp of Lauro Vizconde believes there is enough time left to appeal his case before the Supreme Court (SC) before the 10-year prescriptive period ends in June 2011.

"I think we have enough time. After all they've submitted the motion for reconsideration. We'll have to wait what will be SC's action on this motion," Vizconde said on ANC's "The Rundown" on Wednesday.

Vizconde issued the statement as he, together with chief of the Public Attorney’s Office, Atty. Persida Rueda-Acosta, filed a motion for reconsideration on the high court's December 14 ruling on the Vizconde massacre case.


In a vote of 7-4-4, the SC acquitted Hubert Webb and other scions of influential families in the murder of Vizconde's wife Estrellita, and daughters Carmela and Jennifer Vizconde in June 1991, due to the inconsistencies in the testimony of star witness Jessica Alfaro.

The decision to acquit Webb and the others prevents the filing of an appeal following the doctrine of double jeopardy, but Vizconde insists there's always an exception to the rule.

"In every rule there's an exception. With the opinion of our lawyers this rule has been applied in so many cases already--[such as] the Aquino-Galman case," he said.

Atty. Demetriou Custodio, counsel for Hubert Webb, remains confident that the SC will junk Vizconde's appeal.

Vizconde believes Webb and 5 others previously convicted for the massacre and released from jail this month are responsible for killing his family.

"There's no other suspect except Hubert. He has the motive. After being turned down by Carmela, perhaps he couldn't accept it. It's only Carmela who was raped. The perpetrators must have a deep-seated anger. After raping her, she was stabbed 13 times," the still mourning father said.

Vizconde said documentary and testimonial evidence presented to the court to prove Webb's whereabouts and the impossibility of him committing the crime should be authenticated, something that has yet to happen despite a subpoena by the court.

Webb in US?

"Before, the US state immigration testified there's no such Hubert Webb that went to the States. Later they issued another document that says Hubert was in the Unites States. In the opinion of the trial judge, a conflicting statement like that will not be given any probative value on the case," Vizconde said.

Vizconde added that the documents "are self-serving." He said they have made a request to parties that issued these documents, but none came to testify.

"We think the court is expecting to hear from these people who allegedly authenticated the document," Vizconde said.

Alfaro's friend

Vizconde is counting on Crescencio Nombres Jr., a childhood friend of Jessica Alfaro, to support her testimony against Webb and the others on the Vizconde massacre case.

"He testified he was the first to be approached by Jessica when she went to the National Bureau of Investigation, and informed them of the possible supplier of shabu which the NBI [National Bureau of Investigation] raided," he said.

He added that Alfaro also revealed to Nombres what she knew about the crime.

Vizconde, however, dismissed the possibility Nombres's testimony may simply be dismissed as hearsay.
The high court is expected to thresh out the testimonies of new witnesses through oral arguments on January 25.

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