Teams that will go after 3 sets of Vizconde suspects formed

A government inter-agency panel has formed special teams to go after three sets of suspects in the high-profile Vizconde massacre in June 1991. At a news briefing on Tuesday, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the teams will be composed of investigators from the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). "We are under tremendous time constraint so we had to move fast. So immediately, both the PNP and the NBI had formed three parallel teams to do the investigation," said De Lima. The PNP and the NBI are attached agencies of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), respectively. The two departments were tasked by Malacañang to spearhead the inter-agency panel that will conduct the reinvestigation.

It was President Benigno Aquino III who ordered the reinvestigation of the gruesome murders of Estrellita, Carmela, and Jennifer Vizconde on June 30, 1991. His directive stemmed from the Supreme Court's acquittal of seven men who were convicted in January 2000 for the murders. The seven who were acquitted were: Hubert Webb, Antonio Lejano, Michael Gatchalian, Miguel Rodriguez, Hospicio Fernandez, Peter Estrada, former policeman Gerardo Biong. Two other suspects — Joey Filart and Artemio Ventura — remain at large. But the government will be have to work double time as the prescriptive period for the Vizconde massacre will lapse in six months. Webb's group included On Tuesday, De Lima said that Webb's group is still among the three sets of suspects to be investigated even if Webb and six others have been acquitted. De Lima also said that if the investigation would show that Webb and the others were indeed the perpetrators, the government may no longer charge them because they will be subjected to double jeopardy, which happens when an accused is prosecuted twice for the same offense. The 1987 Constitution provides the double jeopardy prohibition. Acquittal in a criminal case is also executory and may no longer be appealed. Filing charges against them or asking the Supreme Court to reconsider their acquittal will place the seven men in double jeopardy. Still, De Lima said the government will include Webb's group just to determine whether or not they were the perpetrators. "If that is indeed the outcome of the investigation, they can no longer be charged again. But at least the public knows the truth," said De Lima. "There will be no stones unturned... We may not be able to make them account legally for what they did if they are the real culprits. But that still depends on the results of the investigation," she added. 2 other sets of suspects The two other groups to be investigated include:

The "Baroso Gang" — a group of men composed of brothers Roberto and Villardo Baroso, Bienvenido Baydo, Rolando Mendoza, Angelito Santos, and Ernesto Cesar.

A group led by a certain Engineer Danilo Aguas, and policemen Ruben Pineda, Angel Viaje, and Rodolfo Collado. From October 1991 to June 1993, authorities arrested the two groups of suspects and brought them to court. However, the cases against them were dismissed for lack of evidence. Like a ticking time bomb Also on Tuesday, De Lima said the government will expedite the investigation before the 20-year prescriptive period for the Vizconde murders lapses on June 30, 2011. Under the Revised Penal Code, crimes like the Vizconde murders have a prescriptive period of 20 years. This means that the State has to file charges within 20 years from the time the crime was discovered. Because the Vizconde killings were discovered on June 30, 1991, the 20-year prescriptive period lapses on June 30, 2011, which is six months from now. "We are under tremendous time constraint, so we have to move fast," said De Lima. Jessica Alfaro De Lima likewise said the DOJ and the DILG have assigned "somebody from the team" to locate Jessica Alfaro, the so-called star witness to the Vizconde murders but whose testimony was found "incredible" and "inherently inconsistent" by the Supreme Court. Alfaro is reportedly in the United States. De Lima said the one tasked to locate Alfaro "will contact her to convince her to cooperate" in the reinvestigation "especially if she knows she was telling the truth." — RSJ/KBK, GMANews.TV