Another circus, if not farce, in the making?

By Al S. Mendoza

 

WHAT have we got here?

Hey, if that’s not an outright claim that freedom from prison can be bought in this country, will somebody enlighten me, please?

The Philippine Daily Inquirer, where I worked 20 years (the last seven years as sports editor), has bannered a story with the heading, “P50-M Webb fund bared.”

That was last Wednesday, Feb. 23.

The story mentioned Lauro Vizconde as having made an affidavit containing a portion about P50 million being readied to buy Hubert Webb et al.’s release from Muntinglupa.

Vizconde’s wife and two daughters were massacred in 1991.  One of Vizconde’s daughters (Carmela) was allegedly raped before she was killed.

Vizconde was abroad working when the grisly crime happened.

Webb and six others were haled in court and, in January 2000, the Paranaque Regional Trial Court handed down a guilty verdict of life in prison for Webb et al.

The Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction before the Supreme Court overturned the ruling and set free Webb et al. only a while back.

Vizconde’s motion for reconsideration had been denied by the High Court.

In the Inquirer story of Feb. 23, Vizconde, in his affidavit on Jan. 27, 2011, said, and I quote the Inquirer: “We were surprised when Justice [Jose] Mendoza told us that ‘May lumalakad nga nitong kaso’ (Somebody’s lobbying for this case) and there [was] even talk of Fifty Million pesos as ‘lobby money’ being offered by the accused for a favorable decision of acquittal.”

Mendoza, a Supreme Court justice, is not a relative of mine although he is a namesake of my brother now living in Toronto.

The Inquirer also said that on Monday, Feb. 21, Vizconde said it was Chief Justice Corona who had warned Vizconde in September 2010 about SC Justice Carpio’s alleged lobbying for the High Court’s decision to overturn the Court of Appeal’s verdict to uphold the lower court’s guilty conviction.

These are serious accusations that were denied – but, of course – by Corona et al.

As I write this, Freddie Webb, Hubert’s father, was reported by the Inquirer as having not returned calls, or replied to text messages, from the Inquirer.

Actually, I’m not surprised anymore by this latest twist in the 20-year-old Vizconde saga.

Vizconde, now old and bent himself, appears unforgiving and relentless in his quest for justice up to his dying day.

Indeed, if you can’t forget, you can’t forgive.

Thus, if Vizonde should be firing blanks now – if he hasn’t yet – I can understand it.

My only prayer is, I hope he won’t turn into a loose canon – as most “resource speakers” at Senate probes tend to be.

Emotions sometimes get in the way and a person’s rationale can be muddled.

And so, before we know it, so many big fishes are being dragged into the dragnet of indiscriminate fishing expedition.

Allegations are allegations.

But without solid evidence, they remain just that – allegations.

Meanwhile, people’s reputations can suddenly become suspect because of shotgun shots.

A circus it could degenerate into, if not total farce.

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