VACC to block Vizconde cop's release from jail

The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) will ask Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to revoke her order authorizing the release of former policeman Gerardo Biong, who was convicted as an accessory to the 1991 Vizconde massacre case. VACC founding chair Dante Jimenez on Monday said his group would go to the Department of Justice (DOJ) office in Manila on Tuesday to hand over a letter to De Lima contesting Biong’s release by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), an attached agency of the DOJ. Lauro Vizconde, whose wife Estrelita and daughters Carmela and Anna Marie Jennifer were killed inside their Parañaque City house on June 30, 1991, is the vice chairman of VACC. "We will be submitting to Secretary De Lima to request a recall of the order. We want to know the basis of the computation [for the sentence Biong served]," Jimenez told reporters. De Lima had said she approved BuCor's recommendations to release Biong because he had already served his sentence of a minimum of six years and one day to a maximum of 12 years in prison. Biong had been detained since Sept. 5, 1995, when he was arrested after being tagged as an accessory in the Vizconde massacre case. He was accused of destroying evidence found at the crime scene. On Monday, Jimenez said Biong should not yet walk a free man because he is facing a separate sentence of four years for supposedly attempting to murder a certain Danilo Cayubit. All in all, Biong is facing a sentence of a maximum of 16 years, not 12 years, Jimenez said. Biong's lawyer, Jose Flaminiano, quickly retorted that a Parañaque court had already acquitted his client of the attempted murder charge. In an interview with reporters, Flaminiano also accused Jimenez of muddling the issues. "There is no conviction in the Cayubit case. He [Biong] has nothing to do with the Cayubit case," said Flaminiano. Flaminiano said Biong should be rightfully released because he had indeed served his sentence already. He added that Section 16, Rule 114 of the Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure provides that: "When a person has been in custody for a period equal to or more than the possible maximum imprisonment prescribed for the offense charged, he shall be released immediately, without prejudice to the continuation of the trial or the proceedings on appeal." Biong was in preventive custody from September 1995 to January 2000 when he was being tried for the Vizconde massacre, Flaminiano sad. When Biong was convicted in January 2000, he was moved to the national penitentiary New Bilibid Prison, which means he has been behind bars for more than 15 years and should now be freed, Flaminiano added. Aside from Biong, six other people were convicted for the murders, including Hubert Webb, son of former Senator Freddie Webb. - KBK, GMANews.TV