Webb camp asks SC to discredit testimony of Vizconde star witness

The camp of convict Hubert Webb on Wednesday filed before the Supreme Court (SC) a supplemental motion to discredit Jessica Alfaro, the star witness in the brutal killing of three members of the Vizconde family. In a 70-page supplement to the urgent motion for Webb’s acquittal, the defense camp said the SC should dismiss Alfaro as a “bogus eyewitness." The Webb camp added that the SC should not admit Alfaro’s testimonies. “We feel that Alfaro’s statements are the foundation and linchpin of the prosecution’s evidence. If we are able to demolish that, the prosecution’s case has no legs to stand on," Zenaida Acorda, one of Webb’s lawyers, told GMANews.TV in an interview on Wednesday. In the motion to discredit Alfaro, Webb’s camp cited the testimony of Artemio Sacaguing, who earlier said Alfaro was only an informant of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) who volunteered to play the role of an eyewitness in the Vizconde massacre. Sacaguing was the former chief of the NBI Anti-Kidnapping, Arson and Armed Robbery Unit. “Alfaro is a bogus eyewitness. And the NBI, which filed the criminal charges against Hubert Webb and his co-accused, knew this," the motion read. In 1991, Estrellita Vizconde and her daughters Carmela and Jennifer were brutally killed inside their house in Parañaque City. Four years later, Alfaro surfaced and claimed Webb raped Carmela before murdering her. Webb, son of former Senator Freddie Webb, was sentenced to life imprisonment along with five of his co-accused in January 2000, a ruling that was affirmed by the Court of Appeals in December 2005. In 2007, Webb appealed the two rulings before the Supreme Court. ‘Habitual liar’ The defense panel likewise argued that Alfaro’s testimonies should not be admitted because the star witness supposedly lied under oath several times in the past. The panel added that Alfaro even allegedly filed two contradictory affidavits. “Should the testimony of a witness who lied several times under oath be believed and given credence? And shouldn’t there be reasonable doubt as to whether the alleged eyewitness testimony of this habitual liar and perjurer is true?" the defense camp said in the motion. Acorda likewise said that the high court should give more weight on the defense camp’s “solid" documentary evidence, such as certifications from United States officials, proving that Webb was out of the country at the night of the incident instead of Alfaro’s “bogus" statements. “There is a legal principle which says that documentary evidence should be given more weight that testimonial evidence, since these testimonies can be easily concocted. We hope that the Supreme Court takes this into account," she said. – VVP/MRT, GMANews.TV