Dalawang dekada, dalawang pamilya, dalawang panig ng hustisya.

by Peter F. Cantos

The Vizconde Massacre

June 30, 1991, a day which would challenge the Philippine justice sytem forever.

Carmela Vizconde

Members of the Vizconde family were brutally murdered in their own house at BF Homes, Paranaque City, Philippines. Estrellita Vizconde (47 years old), wife of Lauro Vizconde and mother to Carmela and Jennifer, was stabbed thirteen times. Carmela Vizconde (18 years old), eldest daughter of the Vizconde's, was raped multiple times before being remorselessly stabbed seventeen times while Jennifer Vizconde (7 years old), their youngest daughter, received nineteen stab wounds. The father, Lauro Vizconde, was in the United States helping a cousin take care of a restaurant business while looking for a school for Carmela's masteral degree when the murder took place.

The case became highly controversial due to the affluent nature of the families of the suspects involved. The suspects were Hubert Webb, son of former actor/athlete/politician Freddie Webb; Antonio Lejano II, son of a prominent actress; Hospicio Fernandez, son of a retired navy commodore; Michael Gatchalian and Miguel Rodriguez, sons of prominent lawyers; Peter Estrada and and Artemio Ventura, sons of wealthy businessmen; Joey Filart, believed to be related to a former army command chief. Hubert Webb was allegedly the mastermind of the said incident.

Investigation and Trial

Jessica Alfaro

Preliminary investigations were done by the Paranaque police. Several years after the incident, two set of suspects were arrested and was brought to routine inquisition. The Paranaque police even declared the case closed for two times but after a while, the incriminated withdrew their testimonies and accused the police of torture. Mr. Vizconde was beginning to lose faith with the current investigation and thus decided to approach the NBI.

When the NBI started investigation, they found out that articles such as bed sheets and mattresses were burned. They believed that the said items could provide valuable information as to whom the perpetrators could be. Even more startling was when they found out that one reponsible for burning the articles was Paranaque policeman Gerado Biong, former head of the investigation. No witnesses emerged during the investigation. The housemaids of the Vizconde's testified to the police that they heard no commotion during the incident even if the room they slept in was beside the bedroom where the butchery took place.

The NBI believed that the perpetrators were under the influence of illegal drugs. The can't even picture a motive for the gruesome massacre wafting between ideas of robbery to a simple case of carnal desire.

The investigation and subsequent trial unfolded many angles and versions, but to Judge Amelita Tolentino, the eyewitness account of Jessica Alfaro—a confessed drug addict who only surfaced four years after the crime—proved superior to the defense of all the accused.

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 hideous crime was committed.

According to Alfaro's account, It all started with a small-time drug deal at the parking lot of the Alabang Commercial Center in Muntinlupa on the night of June 29, 1991, Alfaro testified in open court. She was with the suspects when they bought a gram from Ventura, her dealer. After a session, Webb decided to proceed to Carmela’s house on Vinzons Street, BF Homes Subdivision. He wanted Alfaro to join them because Carmela’s mother only allowed her daughter to go out and entertain female visitors.

The gang was on board three vehicles—a blue Mazda pickup, a blue-gray Nissan Patrol and Alfaro’s white Mitsubishi Lancer. When they arrived, Alfaro talked briefly with Carmela, who said she could not entertain them then, but asked them to come back later.

After another session at the Alabang parking lot, Alfaro and Estrada, then her boyfriend, returned to the Vizconde house. Again Carmela asked Alfaro to come back before midnight. On their way back to Alabang, however, Alfaro and Estrada saw Carmela driving to drop off a man, who seemed to be her boyfriend. Alfaro said she reported all these to Webb.

The group sniffed more before returning to the Vizconde house at around 11:45 p.m. By then, Alfaro said, Webb had hatched his plan to rape Carmela. Alfaro signalled their arrival by flashing her headlights twice. The gate had been left open for them to enter, and Alfaro, Webb, Lejano and Ventura alighted from their cars.

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.

By Alfaro’s account, 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.

The three vehicles sped away to a house at the BF Executive Village. There, Webb, Ventura and Lejano blamed one another for the crime, and it was because of their bickering, Alfaro said in her testimony, that she was able to piece together the order of events.

A policeman, Gerardo Biong, arrived while Alfaro was still with the group. Webb asked him to fix their “mess,” and Biong later destroyed vital physical evidence, including bloodied bedsheets, carpets, clothing and other items at the crime scene.

Alfaro shed light to a statement made by Carmela to her father during a long-distance phone call saying that she turned down a suitor who is from a prominent family and a son of a congressman (Freddie Webb was a congressman back then).

During the trial, the prosecution presented only seven witnesses. Aside from Alfaro and the doctor who autopsied the victims’ bodies, two former housemaids of the Webb family were presented. They testified that Webb was in the country on the day of the crime. One of them, Mila Gaviola, even claimed she washed the bloodstains off Webb’s shirt on the morning of June 30, 1991.

BF Homes security guards Justo Cabanacan and Normal White also testified at the trial. 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.

There was also Lolita Birrer who testified that she had accompanied Biong, her former live-in partner, 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 Rep. Freddie Webb.

Questioning Alfaro’s credibility, 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. 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 verdict: Guilty beyond reasonable doubt. The sentence: life imprisonment for the principal accused. They were also ordered to pay Lauro Vizconde more than P3 million for damages and legal fees. As an accessory to the crime, Biong was sentenced to 11 to 12 years of imprisonment.

The case, however, is far from over, with the defense saying they would pursue the fight for an acquittal. A motion was filed with the Court of Appeals but on December 16, 2005, the appellate court’s 76-page decision only upheld the guilty verdict

Repercussions: Webb Family

Hubert Webb

There are 52 weeks in a year, multiply it by 15. Over 500 hundred sundays na kami, halos anim na raan na linggo ang nilaan na namin para sa loob ng kulungan.

- Jason Webb, Youngest brother of Hubert Webb

For the past 15 years, it has been a tradition for the Webb family to set aside Sunday for Hubert. Hubert has been in New Bilibid prison for more than ten years after spending five in Paranaque ciy jail. The controversial decision is still vivid in the memory of the family.

Everytime I look at Hubert, I can't help but believe that there are a lot of innocent people in jail. And everytime I look at him, he is still one of the luckiest there. Iba doon halos walang makain, siya may ama siya, may ina siya, may mga kapatid siya, may mga apo siya. This is the strength I give him.

- Beth Webb, Mother of Hubert Webb

Adjunct to the tradition of visiting Hubert in prison, Beth; her mother, always makes it a must to wake up early every Sunday morning to prepare food for her son. The Webb family never imagined that they would be spending every Sunday and special holidays inside the new Bilibid prison.

Sa tingin mo kaya kung may kasalanan 'yan pupuntahan ba namin siya every sunday? 'Di namin gagawin 'yun. If I was just an ordinary person, particularly if I was not a politician then this case wouldn't even have gotten to first page. If I were to relive my life, certainly I would not choose to become a politician because if I was not, my son wouldn't be in jail right now.

- Freddie Webb, Father of Hubert Webb

The Webb family doesn't consider the activity as routine, they perform it because they know it's the least they can do for their wrongfully incriminated scion. Freddie Webb can't help but question God sometimes why this has happened to his family but he remains composed because he knows he can't show weakness to his son as it would only add to his ordeal.

Repercussions: Vizconde Family

Lauro Vizconde

They're still lucky beacuse their sons and loved ones are still alive, unlike my family. Hindi ko na sila makakapiling.

- Lauro Vizconde

July 2, 1991, Lauro Vizconde arrived at the airport with his pasalubong for his family unaware of the gruesome incident. He has not seen his family for three years and he was expecting to be fetched by them in the airport. He was startled when airport security escorted him off the tarmac. Upon knowing that something happened to his family, Mr. Vizconde fainted and when he regained consciousness he immediately went to the funeral homes where his family was.

Hindi ko nga alam kung sino unang pupuntahan ko, yung asawa ko, yung dalawang anak ko.

-Lauro Vizconde

The burial was held one week after, it was only then when every detail of the murder was made known to Mr. Vizconde. He was unable to eat and speak the following days, spending time alone contemplating who could have done such an inhumane act towards his family.

Ang bibig nila ay na-gag ng pillow case, hands tied back sagad sa buto ng electric fan cord.

-Lauro Vizconde

Almost two decades has passed but Mr. Vizconde is still unable to suppress the memory of the depicable act committed against his family.

Mr. Vizconde is just as anxious to see finality in the case. He said in a past interview that he will only feel fully vindicated when the Supreme court affirms the conviciton.

Acquittal

April 2010, the 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 NBI that they no longer had the specimens as these were remanded to the Parañaque courts. Both sides frantically pointed fingers at each other for this mistake.

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, 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.

Questions and Conclusion

I am in no position to decide whether who is innocent and who isn't. Two days of reading related material on this subject made me severely dazed because of the different angles and several plot holes with regards to the story. Never in my life have I been more baffled considering that this case has been studied for almost two decades. Several questions are still rambling in my head right now.

If the motive was pure carnal desire, why was Carmela the only one raped?

If the motive was anger, why were the victims stabbed more than enough to kill them?

If Freddie Webb is really as powerful as what the statement of others claim, why was Hubert imprisoned for more than 15 years?

Is it really justifiable to favor a statement of a confessed drug addict against several US government certified documents?

If Hubert is innocent, who the fuck did it then?

Perhaps we will never find out.

I can only sum up one conclusion to this two decade affair and that is that I completely lost faith towards our justice system.

May the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace.