DOJ mulls hold order for 2 Vizconde suspects

Manila, Philippines - The Department of Justice (DOJ) is considering issuing a hold departure order (HDO) on two possible suspects in the June 1991 Vizconde massacre who were identified by a witness who surfaced recently, an official said Thursday.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, interviewed by reporters after attending a command conference at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) headquarters Thursday afternoon, refused to name the two suspects nor give any idea whether they are new suspects or old ones. She also refused to identify the witness, who is in the custody of the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG).

“Yes, that’s being considered if they are located,” De Lima on the inclusion of the two possible suspects in the Bureau of Immigration’s HDO list once charges are filed against them.  

De Lima said the NBI and the PNP-CIDG have already intensified efforts to find the two possible suspects in the murders of Estrellita Vizconde and her daughters Carmela and Jennifer in their BF Homes, Parañaque City residence. Carmela was also raped before she was killed.

She said they have received reports that the two possible suspects currently being traced by authorities are still within the Philippines.

The PNP-CIDG witness who gave them the identities of the two possible suspects passed the government investigator’s lie detector test last Thursday.

“I announced last week that she underwent a polygraph test... there are no indications that she was not telling the truth,” De Lima said.

De Lima said the other four or five witnesses in the re-investigation by the NBI will be subjected to polygraph tests next week.

“I ordered the polygraph testing for those other witnesses. We are still completing the whole picture to know whose statements we should believe,” she said, adding that the witnesses know each other since they were together on the night of the massacre on June 30, 1991.

De Lima also said they are doing their best to file the appropriate charges against the new suspects before the 20-year prescriptive period ends on June 29.