DOJ: New 'breakthrough' in Vizconde massacre reinvestigation

Justice Sec. Leila de Lima on Thursday announced a "second breakthrough" in the government's reinvestigation of the high-profile 1991 Vizconde massacre case. At a news briefing, De Lima said the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) uncovered a new lead in the case. The first one was unearthed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). The PNP is an attached agency of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), while the NBI is under the Department of Justice (DOJ). The two departments head the government's task force conducting the reinvestigation. De Lima, however, kept mum on the nature of the new breakthrough so as not to preempt the task force's subsequent steps. "There was a second breakthrough but I cannot yet disclose, pending full validation of the facts. This latest breakthrough is crucial, " she said. President Benigno Aquino III ordered the DOJ and the DILG to conduct a reinvestigation after the Supreme Court (SC) acquitted the seven suspects in the killing of Estrellita Vizconde and her daughters, Carmela and Jennifer, in June 1991. On Dec. 14, 2010, the SC reversed the convictions of Hubert Webb and six other men on the basis that their guilt was not proven beyond reasonable doubt. De Lima, however, said the acquittal did not mean Webb and the others in the group were innocent. The DOJ-DILG task force is also tracing the other groups of suspects implicated in the massacre case. The task force has only until June 30 this year to file charges against the new suspects. This is so because under the Revised Penal Code, cases punishable by life imprisonment are given a prescriptive period of 20 years. Thus, investigations into the massacre, which occurred on June 30, 1991, will have to end on June 30, 2011. On Thursday, De Lima said that she is confident that cases will be filed before the prescription period lapses. "Kaya [natin yan] (We can do it)," De Lima said. — LBG/RSJ, GMA News