A new witness in the nearly 20-year-old Vizconde massacre case is now in contact with authorities, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said Friday. In an interview with reporters, De Lima confirmed that she met on Thursday with the National Police's Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the new witness, whom she refused to identify. The witness will undergo a polygraph test next week since parts of the new witness' testimony did not jive with earlier findings by the National Bureau of Investigation, she said. "We cannot afford to commit a mistake here. I don't want to release a report that would have a tendency to raise more questions," said De Lima. Malacañang ordered a reinvestigation of the Vizconde massacre last December after the Supreme Court acquitted Hubert Webb and six others who had been earlier convicted by a lower court for the murders of Estrellita, Carmela, and Jennifer Vizconde on June 30, 1991.
Lauro pleased Lauro Vizconde — husband of Estrellita and father of the two girls — said he was pleased that a new witness has surfaced to help shed light on the incident. But Mr. Vizconde said he is convinced that Hubert Webb was involved in the crime, adding that it would be difficult to accept if the reinvestigation's findings would show otherwise. "I don't see anyone who will do that to my family except him," said the 73-year-old Mr. Vizconde in an interview inside his Parañaque home. Vizconde said he is hoping that justice will be served no matter what the reinvestigation will reveal. For his part, Vizconde lawyer Ferdinand Topacio said: "Mr. Vizconde hopes that the investigation will not lead to another dead end... that the new witness will shed light on what really happened, so that he may attain closure on this matter."
Waste of time? But Webb's lawyer, Atty. Demetrio Custodio, told GMA News in a phone interview that the Department of Justice would be wasting its time if it insists on pinning down Webb. He pointed out that Webb and the others who were acquitted by the Supreme Court cannot be tried for the same crime twice. "I don't expect that anything pointing to Hubert will be made because like I said, Hubert has been cleared by the Supreme Court and it's a waste of time for the Department of Justice to look at anybody who will again point to Hubert Webb," Custodio said. He said the surfacing of a new witness can only be considered a development if the witness points to a set of suspects that does not include those already cleared by the Supreme Court.
Task force A government task force is 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 she is confident that cases will be filed before the prescription period lapses. "Kaya [natin yan] (We can do it)," she said.
— with Emmanuel Louis Bacani/RSJ, GMA News 
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