SC freezes ruling on Webb appeal

THE Supreme Court yesterday indefinitely deferred ruling on the petition filed by Hubert Webb, principal accused in the Vizconde rape-slay case, to reverse his conviction affirmed by the Court of Appeals.

Court administrator and spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said the Webb petition was among the 300 cases tackled by the SC during the resumption of its regular en banc session yesterday, but some justices had asked to be given more time to study the records of the case.

"There were deliberations earlier today during the en banc session. However some justices, after hearing both parties, asked for more time to study the case. There has been no definite day given on when this will be brought again to the en banc," he said.

Marquez said some magistrates requested for more time to come up with their revised or separate opinions.

Webb, son of former senator Freddie Webb, asked the high court to review the ruling of the Court of Appeals which affirmed the guilty verdict handed down by the Parañaque regional trial court on him and his co-accused for the killing of Estrellita Vizconde and her daughters Jennifer, 7, and Carmela, 18. The latter was also raped.

Webb and his co-accused Peter Estrada, Hospicio Fernandez, Michael Gatchalian, Antonio Lejano, Miguel Rodriguez and a certain Joey Filart who remains at large until now, were all sentenced to life imprisonment.

Lauro Vizconde, patriarch of the victims and vice chairman of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, said he is "disgusted" with this new delay.

"Our case has been lodged with the SC for four years without action. And now this time, after the CA affirmed the lower court’s decision, we have to wait for another time. Pag-aaralan pa raw. Kailan kaya ang katapusan, may katapusan pa kaya? It’s disgusting. We have to wait for an indefinite period again."

The ailing Vizconde, accompanied by a handful of VACC members, held a vigil in front of the SC beginning at 5 a.m. yesterday in anticipation of the high court’s dismissal of Webb’s plea for acquittal.

In a last-ditch effort to prove his innocence, Webb earlier asked the SC to allow the DNA analysis of the semen sample found in the body of Carmela to disprove the prosecution’s claim that he raped her.

When the NBI failed to produce the specimen, which had apparently been lost, Webb moved for his acquittal and subsequent release from detention, saying he was deprived of an opportunity to fully amplify his defense to reverse his conviction.