Vizconde massacre has new set of witnesses

MANILA, Philippines - A new set of witnesses composed of about six to seven persons will reveal new information for a reinvestigation of the Vizconde massacre, Lauro Vizconde, the surviving patriarch, said last night.

Vizconde, in an interview at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) main office in Manila, refused to say whether Hubert Webb, the principal defendant, and his other co-accused would again be indicted.

“I have not met the witnesses. I have not talked to them except the secretary of justice,” he said, referring to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

“At least with the new witnesses they produced, there is a new development in my case,” Vizconde said.

Vizconde also said that the investigators are concentrating on the previous convicts.

“I think they are concentrating on these previous convicts or accused. I just want to inform the public that what we need is for the people to know the truth, to pinpoint who the real culprits are,” he said.

The new information will be revealed this morning at a press conference at the NBI headquarters to be presided over by De Lima.

De Lima, on the other hand, refused to give any details about the new witnesse last night, as did NBI Director Magtanggol Gatdula.

Vizconde said that he will be appearing at the press conference scheduled today.

“I think they have to present the new witnesses who they (investigating task force) interviewed. And according to the secretary and even the NBI, the witnesses passed through polygraph examinations,” said Vizconde.

Vizconde said he is confident about the case.

But in a separate interview, Vizconde said he is not keen on pressing new charges because he is convinced that Webb’s group was behind the murders.

“That’s what I am only after since I’m already denied justice… by the Supreme Court justices. I just want the people to know who the real killers are,” Vizconde told The STAR.

On the other hand, Hubert’s father former senator Freddie Webb threatened to file a libel or slander suit against the media if such information would be made public without any proof.

Webb told reporters during a conference call that he has no information about the new witnesses.

Hubert Webb’s lawyer Demetrio Custodio also denied knowing anything about the new batch of witnesses.

Meantime, De Lima did not reveal any details of the report but insiders told The STAR that new witnesses have pointed to members of the group of Hubert who were already acquitted in the crime. Under the double jeopardy rule, they could no longer be charged.

Earlier this month, the DOJ chief confirmed that the passport presented in defense of Hubert was found to be genuine.

But she was quick to clarify that probers have yet to confirm if it was indeed Webb who used the passport, citing a development in the reinvestigation that could prove otherwise.

She said there are witnesses in DOJ’s reinvestigation who have insisted that Webb was in the country when the crime was committed on

June 30, 1991 at the Vizconde residence in BF Homes, Parañaque.

De Lima earlier said a credible new witness from a parallel probe being conducted by the police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group

has also passed the polygraph test and pointed to the new suspects.

She had confirmed that the DOJ’s new witness who passed polygraph test last week is “Ms. X,” the woman earlier reported by The STAR who had

claimed that her former husband and his friends were involved in the massacre.

Several other witnesses who also passed polygraph test had also corroborated the testimony of the new witness.

Hubert and six other co-accused in the Vizconde massacre were acquitted by the Supreme Court last December, triggering a reinvestigation to find out the real killers – and file cases against them – before the case’s 20-year prescription period lapses this Thursday. – With Edu Punay, Aie Balagtas See