‘Incredible,’ says Webb counsel on testimony of new witnesses

MANILA, Philippines—Hubert Webb’s counsel branded the testimonies of new witnesses that put Webb in the Philippines at the time of the Vizconde massacre, as “incredible.”

“For them to be able to identify him for something that happened 20 years ago is incredible,” said Attorney Demetrio Custodio. “ We are talking of 20 years of human memory here, and human memory is failing,” Custodio said in a phone interview.

“The accuracy [of their testimony] is very suspect,” Custodio added.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said on Tuesday that they have seven ‘new’ witnesses who can say that Webb was in the Philippines in 1991 when the massacre occurred. Some of these witnesses include a certain “George” who testified that Webb and his co-accused, also acquitted Gerardo Biong, bought from him P10,000 worth of shabu in April, 1991; a certain “Rey” who said that sometime in April or May 1991, Webb played basketball and his teammate elbowed him in his nose; a “Mario” who testified that after a week of the massacre, Webb went to his shop for a haircut; a “Jerry” who played with Webb in May 1991 and 1993 in an Inter-Color Summer Basketball League in BF Homes, among others.

“To us, it is not an issue anymore,” Custodio said.

He noted that the NBI cannot come up with findings that would cast a cloud of doubt on the decision of the Supreme Court that acquitted Webb, Antonio Lejano II, Michael Gatchalian, Miguel Rodriguez, Peter Estrada, Hospicio “Pyke” Fernandez and Gerardo Biong.

At the start of Tuesday’s preliminary hearings, the NBI said the Webb was in the Philippines when the Vizconde Massacre happened in June 30, 1991.

“The evidence gathered by the task force disclosed that Hubert Jeffery Webb never left the Philippines on the date he said he did. He was seen by several persons who never knew each other and all of whom did not have any reasons to perjure their statements,” the NBI said.

The NBI also used as basis the Bureau of Immigration’s magnetic reel tape, which was used in the 90s for monitoring and intelligence purposes. It contained all travel records of persons departing from and arriving at the country.

Based on the sworn statement of Engineer Jolly Bert Galeon, BI’s chief of the computer section, the reel tape in 1991 showed that Hubert Webb was not on its list.

Webb’s alibi that he was in the United States when the massacre happened was upheld by the Supreme Court when he was acquitted in a decision on December 2010.