New witnesses may have told government investigators that Hubert Webb was in the Philippines during the June 1991 Vizconde massacre, but as far as the Supreme Court is concerned, its decision acquitting Webb and his six other companions is considered final. At a news briefing on Tuesday, SC spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said the Vizconde massacre case has been decided with finality and appealing the acquittal of Webb would be subjecting them to double jeopardy. "As far as the court is concerned, that case has already been decided and the acquittal is a final decision of the court. So I don't know what they will be doing after coming up with the result of that reinvestigation of theirs," Marquez said. "You have to remember you have a set of accused here who have already been acquitted and to file new charges against the accused may result in double jeopardy," he added. Earlier in the day, the task force reinvestigating the Vizconde massacre said five new witnesses have come out and claimed that Webb was in the Philippines on June 30, 1991, when Estrellita, Carmela, and Jennifer Vizconde were murdered in their Parañaque home. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, who heads the task force, said the pieces of evidence "negate" and "shatter" Webb's main defense that he was in the US at the time of the killings. De Lima, however, clarified that there was no evidence that would prove Webb was in the crime scene two decades ago. The Supreme Court gave weight to Webb's defense of alibi when it handed down its Dec. 14, 2010 decision acquitting Webb and six others.
Marquez, in Tuesday's news briefing, said the new pieces of evidence against Webb can no longer be entertained because the case is already decided with finality. He likewise said the prosecution could have presented the evidence during the trial period at the Parañaque Regional Trial Court Branch 274 or when the lower court's conviction of Webb was on appeal at the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. "The court cannot take those into consideration. The prosecution was given sufficient time to present all these pieces of evidence to prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt. But if the prosecution will not present damning evidence, then how can you expect the court to convict the accused?" Marquez said. The Parañaque court convicted Webb and six others in 2000. Five years later, the Court of Appeals upheld the guilty verdict, prompting Webb to seek redress from the Supreme Court. In December last year, the SC reversed the lower courts' findings and said that the prosecution was unable to prove beyond reasonable doubt the guilt of the accused.
Prescriptive period De Lima's pronouncements were the results of the reinvestigation of the Vizconde massacre case. The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) set up the joint task force to conduct the reinvestigation, coming on the heels of the SC's acquittal of the suspects in the massacre. De Lima has said that the task force's purpose is to bring closure to the massacre case and identify the real culprits. On Tuesday, De Lima said that the task force has not completed its investigation because new names have cropped up in the course of the probe. De Lima said new suspects include brothers Bing and Dong Villadolid, drug users who were identified by witness "Dang" to have been talking about a "Maria" (presumed to be Maria Carmela Vizconde) a day before the murder. She also said they are still looking for a "Black Maria" who might have been inside the Vizconde residence during the murder and might possibly identify the perpetrators. In his news briefing, Marquez said the government task force has until June 30, two days from now, to file new charges against new suspects. This is because crimes like murder have a 20-year prescriptive period where charges can be filed in court. The prescriptive period is provided by the Revised Penal Code.
— RSJ/KBK, GMA News 
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