Webb: May God forgive the judge

"May God forgive her."

Anger and bitterness etched on his face, former Sen. Freddie Webb called the judge who sent his son and five other men to life in jail a "lost soul" who "only has hatred inside" her.

Webb expressed hope that Judge Amelita Tolentino would one day repent, saying she wasted the life of his son Hubert as well as those of his co-accused Michael Gatchalian, Hospicio "Pyke" Fernandez, Peter Estrada, Antonio "Tony Boy" Lejano and Miguel Rodriguez.

He said these young men, who are in their 30s, should have been enjoying the prime of their lives and careers.

"The trial was a farce," Webb said. "Don't you see the writing on the wall?"

The former senator and Parañaque congressman claimed that Tolentino's ambition to become a Court of Appeals justice could have drove her to make such a decision and then get the much-needed publicity. He said the judge is not qualified to become a justice.

Webb said they will still appeal the case before the Supreme Court.

"One judge does not solely compromise the whole judiciary," the former lawmaker said.

He said the High Court is a place "where there is no Judge Tolentino who only has hatred inside."

"We did not get justice here but maybe we can have it in the Supreme Court," Webb said, echoing what his son's lawyers had planned should the judge issue an unfavorable ruling.

Lawyers Mario Ongkiko and Vitaliano Aguirre expressed belief that the Supreme Court would take cognizance of the pieces of evidence they presented before the lower court.

"At least the case is no longer in Tolentino's hands," the lawyers said.

Former Sen. Rene Saguisag, who earlier handled the case for Hubert, said the judge apparently based the conviction on "conjecture and speculation."

"It was a shocking conviction by conjecture, hypothesis, and speculations... it was done by a judge ignorant of so many things," he said.

For instance, Saguisag said the judge had acknowledged that Hubert was in the United States between March 1991 and October 1991. Simply put, Hubert was not in the country when the Vizconde massacre took place in June 1991.

"However, the judge speculated on the possibility of Hubert Webb returning to the country in between (those dates)," he said.

Another hypothesis being questioned by Saguisag was Tolentino's claim that the elder Webb, being a lawmaker, could have used his position at that time to pressure US immigration officials to prove that his son was in the US when the crime was committed.

"The judge is saying that Senator Webb... is somebody in our country. But Senator Webb is nobody in the US... he cannot influence the US government," Saguisag said.

STAR columnist Teodoro Benigno, who witnessed the court room drama, agreed with Saguisag's observation.

"It is a disgrace because we are sending innocent men to jail," he said.

While the clerk of court read the 186-page decision, Hubert would sometimes cover his ears and bite his lips.

But he still managed to scribble a few notes to his parents, writing "I love you" to his father and mother.

Hubert, though teary-eyed, told his parents that he could handle the situation.

"Life sometimes gives us happiness and suffering we cannot understand," he wrote. "But there is one thing that remains -- the truth which God knows."

Hubert and his co-accused were later led to a van that was to take them to the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) in Muntinglupa City.

According to prison superintendent Venancio Tesoro, the six young men will first be taken to the NBP's reception and diagnostic center, where they will be lectured on prison rules.

From there, they will be ushered to their respective cells at the maximum security compound. -- With Aurea Calica, Jaime Laude