Freddie Webb, father

The reactions to the Supreme Court’s decision acquitting Hubert Webb of the Vizconde murders have been diverse and often emotionally charged. The decision has been scrutinized, debated, and dissected ad nauseam by lawyers and non-lawyers alike.

And certainly, for Lauro Vizconde, his interminable search for justice, painfully, begins anew.

There is much to say about the problems of the Philippine judicial system, the gullibility of the public, the power of media and propaganda, and the many lives that have been shattered as a result of this case. Unlike some, I won’t try to “interpret” the decision: for good or ill, the decision speaks for itself. Anyway, for me in the whirlwind of media interviews, analysis and news reports what really struck me most was the sight of Freddie Webb and his family welcoming Hubert Webb back to their home.

When the Supreme Court’s decision was promulgated on Tuesday, I was in my law office doing my work. As a lawyer, my immediate reaction to the news of Hubert Webb’s acquittal was to try and find a copy of the decision online. Much later, when I was finally able to read the decision, I would read it as an outsider, someone in the legal profession who assessed the High Court’s ruling in terms of jurisprudence and principles of law. In short, although the crime involved was a heinous one, my legal training taught me to view and analyze the case critically and dispassionately.

However, things changed when I got home later that Tuesday night and I saw the TV coverage of Hubert Webb being welcomed back by his father, Freddie Webb, and his family. At home, far away from the pressures and the responsibilities of legal work, I do not have my “lawyer” hat on and I am simply a father and husband. Seeing through a father’s eyes, I could not help but be moved at the sight of a family reunited   made whole after 15 years.

What impressed me most was Hubert’s father, former Senator Freddie Webb. I was impressed at how gracious and un-bitter he appeared when he was interviewed. Others would have taken the low road and attacked the people responsible for his son’s 15-year incarceration but he did not. He just seemed so happy to be able to bring his son home. It was something that I could easily understand.

The bond between father and son is one of life’s deepest. It is more than a mere biological relationship. As I experience it with my own children, instinctively I feel that my kids are a sacred trust that has been given to me. Since I am Muslim, I believe that this is a trust from God himself and that it is my responsibility to protect my kids and raise them well.

As a child, I never believed it but as a parent I know for a fact that it is true: whenever a child gets hurt, it hurts the parents even more. So for Freddie Webb to have endured his son being in jail for 15 years without growing bitter is a testament to the man’s character.

In fact, I believe, for lesser men, this case would have destroyed them. Imagine what Senator Webb went through a man whose life was filled with success heaped upon success. From a star collegiate athlete he goes on to play professional sports. After which, he ventures into showbiz and is likewise successful in the entertainment business. Then he enters politics and later becomes a senator of the republic. It could easily make a person drunk with power and prestige and thus easily broken when troubles come.

And it surely did. The seemingly picture-perfect life of the Webb family would be shattered by the indictment, and later the conviction, of Hubert Webb for multiple murder. Ironically, perhaps it was the fact of Freddie Webb’s political career and achievements that made him and his family such an easy target. The public and the media easily cast then Senator Webb and his family as the villains: the powerful politico and his family with their money and connections covering up a son’s crime.

Had Freddie Webb been an ordinary citizen with a simple family, perhaps not as many people would have thought that his son was guilty. Freddie Webb put it best when he said that had he known that his being in politics would have taken away 15 years from his son’s life, then he would have never entered the political realm.

I can easily commiserate with him having had a small taste of politics as an opposition spokesman and a senatorial candidate. Once you are dubbed a “politician,” your motives are always put into question. Before I entered politics, whenever I would give statements, interviews, or write about issues close to my heart Christian-Muslim dialogue, education for the poor, and the rule of law my statements were taken at face value and assessed solely on their merits. But once I entered politics, everything I did, no matter how altruistic or well-intentioned I may have been, was viewed as a simple attempt at getting political mileage.

In this context, Senator Webb’s may be correct in believing that his own political success, sadly, may have caused his son’s downfall.   

However, it is in the darkest and most trying of times that a person’s true character and virtue are revealed. To find a person’s true nature, don’t analyze him when he is at the pinnacle of success. Success will gloss over flaws and weaknesses and show a person at his best. In fact, a person will reveal his true self often only at times of defeat and despair. And what Freddie Webb revealed was that he was a good father.

Despite the conviction, the public criticism and scorn, he kept his family intact. Other families might have just forgotten about Hubert or might have distanced themselves from him out of embarrassment. But the Webbs spent their weekends, birthdays, and Christmases with Hubert. They kept their family whole and Freddie Webb was definitely a big reason for that. 

Finally, I was struck by something that Freddie Webb said immediately upon Hubert’s release. He said that what sustained his family was their belief and faith, not in men, but in God. He had seen how fickle men can be how in one moment you are the great political hero and then in the next you are scorned, ostracized, and forgotten. Thankfully, God is never fickle and in the Webb family’s darkest hours, he sustained them. Both Christians and Muslims refer to the Creator as a good father. A good father is something that I aspire and strive to be.

Freddie has proven that he is one already.

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E-mail adel.tamano@yahoo.com.