Webb, others may seek damages from govt — SC spokesman

Hubert Webb and his six other co-accused may seek civil damages from the Philippine government after having been acquitted for a crime they were accused of committing almost two decades ago, the spokesman for the Supreme Court said Wednesday. SC spokesman and administrator Jose Midas Marquez, however, said that Webb, Antonio Lejano, Michael Gatchalian, Miguel Rodriguez, Hospicio Fernandez, Peter Estrada, and former policeman Gerardo Biong must first have to prove the state erred in detaining them. "Sa tanong na maaari ba silang mag-sampa ng kaso o maaaring humingi ng danyos dahil sila ay nakulong nang hindi tama, dapat dumaan sa proseso at dapat patunayan na mali ang pagkaka-kulong sa kanila," Marquez said at a news briefing. (On the question whether they can file a case or seek damages because they were wrongfully detained, they should follow the process and should first prove they were indeed wrongfully jailed.)

Marquez also noted that while the seven men were acquitted, it does not necessarily mean that they were innocent of the crime. It means, Marquez said, that the prosecution failed to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt. "The Supreme Court is saying here [that] there is not enough evidence. [The prosecution] was not abe to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. The court is not saying they are innocent," Marquez said. The seven were previosly convicted by the Paranaque Regional Trial Court Branch 274 in January 2000. The ruling was sustained by the Court of Appeals in December 2005. Webb then fled to the Supreme Court to seek redress by asking for a reversal of the two lower court's findings. SC hits Alfaro's credibility Last Tuesday, majority of the 15 Supreme Court justices voted to acquit Webb and his co-accused. The SC cited the unreliability of the testimony of witness Jessica Alfaro and the failure of the prosecution to prove the guilt of the convicts beyond reasonable doubt. "It would be a serious mistake to send an innocent man to jail where such kind of doubt hangs on to one's inner being, like a piece of meat lodged immovable between teeth," the high court said. "Will the Court send the accused to spend the rest of their lives in prison on the testimony of an NBI asset who proposed to her handlers that she take the role of the witness to the Vizconde massacre that she could not produce?" the SC asked. The SC described Alfaro's testimony as "incoherent, if not inherently unbelievable," adding that the so-called star witness merely agreed to play out the role that she saw the Vizconde murders first hand. — RSJ, GMANews.TV