The Vizconde Massacre

It’s been almost 20 years since the Vizconde Massacre happened.  The hearings of the case were concluded many years ago, the court had handed down its decision, the suspects had been sentenced, but the verdict was appealed by the defendants.

 

Then yesterday, the policeman who was convicted for tampering with the evidence was freed, having over served his sentence.  He was still denying that he destroyed the evidence of the crime.  And when asked whether Hubert Webb and his companions really committed the crime, his initial answer was he “could not comment right now”.  However, later he said he was 1,500 percent sure Hubert was not involved in the crime.

The Supreme Court said it would release its decision any day now.  Will it confirm the decision of the lower courts?  Or will it say that Webb and his companions did not do it?

What about the pieces of evidence and the testimony of the star witness Jessica Alfaro?  Will the court ignore them?  Will the Supreme Court  validate the US Immigration document that Hubert was in the USA at the time of the crime, so it was not possible that he did it?

Will justice be finally given to the victims of the massacre?

Hubert Webb was featured in last week’s issue of The Philippine Star.  He said he is hoping that he will be getting out, and that he believes in the system, but if he “ends up paying the price, so be it”.  His last statement made me think hard.  If he is really innocent of the crime, he would not accept the guilty verdict.

Well, I just hope that the Supreme Court will hand out the correct verdict.