Lawyers to go after Vizconde star witness

After the Supreme Court (SC) ruled to free their clients, the lawyers of the seven men linked to the 1991 Vizconde massacre are going after the "star witness" in the case for her alleged false testimony. Former prosecutor Jose Flaminiano on Wednesday said the defense lawyers intend to lodge a false testimony case against Jessica Alfaro and seek her extradition if she is abroad. Flamiano, who represented former policeman Gerardo Biong, said if Alfaro is convicted of false testimony, she will face life imprisonment. Biong was one of the seven men acquitted by the Supreme Court on Tuesday along with Hubert Webb, the son of a former senator, and five others. In a false testimony case, the witness who gave false evidence, if proven guilty, will suffer the penalty of the persons they implicated, Flaminiano explained. "We defense lawyers will meet and consolidate the complaint of false testimony against Alfaro. Imagine, her testimony caused six men to be jailed, with my client being the seventh," Flaminano said in Filipino in an interview aired on dzRH on Wednesday. "We will ask for the extradition of Alfaro kung mapatunayan ng investigating body (if the investigating body shows she is abroad)," he said. Flamiano said the complaint against Alfaro will be filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ) or the Parañaque City prosecutor's office. Fabricated evidence Meanwhile, Flamiano said they will also prepare charges against officials involved in the alleged "fabrication" of evidence. He did not name names but said these may include "private lawyers, private prosecutors and National Bureau of Investigation agents still in active service." "[Sila] ay dapat managot. Hindi dapat ito palampasin. Kawawa ang susunod na maging biktima ng di matuwid na imbestigasyon (They should also be punished. They should not be allowed to get away with it. Otherwise there will be more victims of wrongful investigation)," he said. SC decision On Tuesday, SC justices, voting 7-4-4, exonerated Hubert Webb and six other persons implicated in the Vizconde massacre case. The SC cited the unreliability of the testimony of Alfaro and the failure of the prosecution to prove the guilt of the convicts beyond reasonable doubt. Those acquitted along with Webb were Antonio Lejano, Michael Gatchalian, Hospicio Fernandez, Peter Estrada and Miguel Rodriguez for the killing of Estrellita, Carmelita and Jennifer Vizconde; and Biong for supposedly being an accessory for destroying evidence in the case. Biong, who was sentenced to 12 years in jail, was recently released for having served his punishment in full. Two other co-accused, Artemio Ventura and Joey Filart, were never arraigned in court and have remained at large. "The witness’ story of what she personally saw must be believable, not inherently contrived. A witness who testifies about something she never saw runs into consistencies and makes bewildering claims… Ultimately, Alfaro’s quality as a witness and her inconsistent testimony cannot be the positive identification that jurisprudence acknowledges as sufficient to jettison a denial and an alibi," the SC said. The Court also gave merit to Webb’s strongest alibi – his travel to the US – as shown by travel documents and immigration checks, as well as a detailed narration and documentation of his US trip. Flaminiano said they are still studying whether to seek civil damages from those behind what he called the “false testimony." "Yan ang pinag-aaralan pa namin (We are still studying it)," he said. Doubts on Alfaro Meanwhile, former DOJ Secretary and defeated senatorial candidate Silvestre Bello III admitted he had doubts about Alfaro when she implicated Webb and the others in the case. Bello said the prosecution may have committed some lapses in the case, especially when it failed to verify the defense's evidence that Hubert Webb was in the United States at the time when the massacre occurred. "When I returned to the DOJ, I was not too confident about her," he said in Filipino in an interview aired on dwIZ. Bello served as DOJ secretary while the investigation was being conducted into the Vizconde massacre that occurred on June 30, 1991. Bello said the most critical lapse may have occurred when the prosecution failed to verify the certification of a United States immigration official that Hubert was in the US at the time of the massacre. He said the Parañaque court rejected that certification because the official who issued it did not testify in court. "What could have been done was for the court to direct the prosecution to send a representative to go to the US and get the deposition of that US immigration official," he said. On the other hand, he said his "personal assessment" of the evidence was that it was not strong enough. "The evidence was really weak and the court failed to get a deposition from the US immigration official who issued the certificate," he said. Massacre case in 1991 Webb was accused of raping Carmela Vizconde, 18, who was killed in her family's Parañaque home on June 30, 1991. Her mother, Estrellita, 47, and sister, Jennifer, 7, were also killed. Webb was among the nine people convicted by Paranaque Regional Trial Court Branch 274 Presiding Judge Amelita Tolentino in January 2000 for the killings. The Court of Appeals upheld the conviction in December 2005. Tolentino is now an Associate Justice of the Court of Appeals.— LBG, GMANews.TV