NBI insists: We gave Vizconde case evidence to court during trial

MANILA, Philippines – The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) submitted the missing semen samples taken from the body of victim Carmela Vizconde to the Parañaque court when the Vizconde massacre case was still being tried, an official said yesterday.

Speaking to reporters, NBI medico-legal chief Dr. Floresto Arizala Jr. said Dr. Prospero Cabanayan, who was the medico-legal chief at the time of the trial, placed an annotation on the flap of the envelope (containing) all documents, pictures and smear sets or slides before submitting them to the Parañaque Regional Trial Court Branch 274 when he testified during the trial.

He is confident that the notes on the flap were in Cabanayan’s own handwriting, Arizala added.

Arizala said the NBI has submitted Cabanayan’s affidavit to the Supreme Court (SC), which ordered the agency to prove that it did submit the missing semen samples to the trial court.

They have also submitted to the SC the affidavit of Dr. Renato Bautista, also of the NBI’s medico-legal division, explaining the alleged discrepancies regarding the surrender of the semen slides, he added.

Arizala said Chief Public Attorney Persida Acosta and Carmela’s father, Lauro Vizconde, told a television interview they saw Cabanayan surrender the semen samples to the Parañaque court.

The search for the semen samples stemmed from a petition filed before the SC by family of Hubert Webb, who wanted the samples taken from the victim’s tested to determine if the DNA came from him.

The SC granted the request, but the University of the Philippines’ DNA Analysis Laboratory said they have not received any specimen from the NBI or the Parañaque court.