New DOJ probe: Hubert's passport genuine

MANILA, Philippines - In another breakthrough in the Department of Justice (DOJ) reinvestigation of the 1991 Vizconde massacre, Secretary Leila de Lima confirmed yesterday that Hubert Webb’s passport  which recorded his stay in the United States when the massacre was committed  is genuine.

The actual passport was never presented during the trial, and only a certified copy of the document was presented. The evidence was junked by then Parañaque regional trial court judge and now Court of Appeals Justice Amelita Tolentino, who convicted Webb and several others for killing Lauro Vizconde’s wife and two daughters. The Supreme Court reversed the conviction in December last year.

In an interview at the DOJ after the command conference of Task Force Vizconde at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) headquarters, De Lima said experts from the bureau and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas established the authenticity of the passport that Webb claimed he used when he flew to the US months before the crime was committed.

“They tested it and found to be true and the materials of the passport was really that of the passport issued by the (Department of) Foreign Affairs,” she said.

De Lima said the examination of the passport was crucial in determining the veracity of information found in it.

Former senator Freddie Webb, Hubert’s father, welcomed the development. “It only proves our defense that Hubert was out of the country when the crime happened,” he told The STAR over the phone. Webb said he was in Orange County, California when the 1991 murders took place.

De Lima said the reinvestigation is nearing its conclusion.

“We are beginning our countdown before the prescription period for the crime lapses. We have a new (breakthrough) although we cannot divulge the details yet. What is worth noting is that experts had proven that Hubert Webb’s passport was not fake,” she said.

Earlier, the DOJ chief confirmed that a new witness, who may identify a new set of suspects in the Vizconde massacre, had surfaced and passed a polygraph test. She added that they have information that one of the new suspects “is still here in the Philippines.”

De Lima has confirmed that the DOJ’s new witness is “Ms. X,” a woman who said her former husband and his friends from a drug ring, who were “sons of politicians” with powerful connections, were involved in the massacre. According to Australian criminologist Christian Faust, Ms. X made the claim to Australian authorities when she was applying for a protection visa.

She said they are trying their best to conclude the new probe before June 29, when the 20-year prescription period for prosecuting suspects in the massacre would lapse.

Vizconde expressed confidence in the DOJ’s reinvestigation and vowed to fully accept its results, despite his belief that it was Webb and his group who were really behind the crime.