Webb seeks acquittal in Vizconde massacre

MANILA, Philippines – Convicted rapist Hubert Webb asked the Supreme Court (SC) yesterday to acquit him in the two-decade-old Vizconde massacre case after it dropped his bid for DNA tests of missing forensic evidence that he claimed could clear him.

On the other hand, Lauro Vizconde, after hearing about the SC’s latest decision, expressed confidence yesterday that the high tribunal will soon rule on the case with finality.

“I am satisfied with the ruling,” he said, adding that he will visit his wife, Estrellita, and daughters Carmela and Jennifer at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Novaliches, Quezon City this weekend.

‘Release me’

Webb, invoking his constitutional right to due process, asked the high court to issue an order for his release from the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP), where he spent the past 10 years of his life.

In an urgent motion, Webb said the government’s failure to produce the semen sample taken from the body of Carmela is tantamount to negligence or willful suppression that warrants his acquittal in the rape-slay case.

“The suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused upon request violates due process where the evidence is material to either guilt or punishment, irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution,” he said through lawyer Demetrio Custodio Jr.

Webb claimed the missing evidence could prove that he did not rape Carmela – contrary to the findings of Parañaque Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 274 that convicted him and others in January 2000.

He said the High Court has even agreed to the need to afford him “fullest extent of his constitutional right to due process” when it issued a resolution last Apr. 20 granting his request for the DNA tests.

The SC, however, clarified that the favorable results of forensic examination of evidence would not automatically result in his acquittal.

Still missing

Last Oct. 19, however, the court set aside its earlier resolution upon appeal of the government. It dropped DNA tests simply because the necessary samples could no longer be found.

The NBI claimed that the specimen, along with all documents in the case, were already submitted to Parañaque RTC Branch 274, which tried the case.

The RTC, on the other hand, reported to the SC that it did not receive the forensic evidence based on its records. The transcript of stenographic notes showed that what were marked as evidence during the trial were only photographs of the three slides of the semen specimen – not the actual ones.

Demetrio said the government has a constitutional duty to preserve evidence with exculpatory value that was apparent before the evidence was destroyed. That evidence, moreover, must be “of such a nature that the defendant would be unable to obtain comparable evidence by other reasonably available means.”

Another reason for guilty verdict?

Former senator Freddie Webb, father of the convict, believes that there was another reason why his son was convicted.

He said it was the late former senator Renato Cayetano who served as lead private prosecutor in the case. The convicting RTC judge, Amelita Tolentino, later on applied for a post in the Court of Appeals when her son was allegedly a member of the Judicial and Bar Council that screened the applicants. Tolentino was appointed to the CA in August 2001.

“I don’t want to accuse anybody. I’m just stating the facts,” the older Webb stressed.

Court records show Carmela, her mother and younger sister were killed on June 29, 1991. Apart from Webb, Hospicio “Pyke” Fernandez, Antonio “Tony Boy” Lejano, Michael Gatchalian, Peter Estrada and Miguel “Ging” Rodriguez were sentenced to life imprisonment by Tolentino in January 2000 for rape with homicide. Gerardo Biong was sentenced to 12 years as an accessory to the crime for destroying evidence.

The case is now under review of the SC through a petition for review filed by the Webbs seeking reversal of the conviction. – With Michael Punongbayan