Freddie Webb assails NBI’s ‘evil ways’

MANILA, Philippines—Angered by fresh efforts to prove that, contrary to his family’s claims, his son Hubert was in the Philippines at the time of the Vizconde massacre, Freddie Webb on Tuesday assailed the National Bureau of Investigation and its “evil ways.”

Webb said that while it had been shown that Jessica Alfaro, the star witness in the trial, was not to be believed, the NBI would “do everything to protect” itself.

“Finally it has been agreed that Alfaro was an incredible witness. But then again who was the handler of Alfaro? Wasn’t it the NBI? You mean to tell me, they will now agree that they erred?” the former senator said in a phone interview with the INQUIRER.

He added: “They will not agree. They will do everything to protect the institution at the expense of people telling the truth.

“They will mangle and run over you until they get to show that we are the ones lying … Sila ang sinungaling, sila ang salbahe (They are the liars, they are the bad ones). They have their evil ways and they think that they can get away with it.”

In a ruling issued last Dec. 14, the Supreme Court dismissed Alfaro’s testimony and acquitted Hubert Webb and five other scions of wealthy families of the murder of Estrellita Vizconde, 47, and her daughters Carmela, 18, and Jennifer, 7, in their Parañaque home on June 30, 1991.

The NBI on Tuesday presented to the Department of Justice the results of its reinvestigation showing that Hubert Webb was in the country, and not in the United States, when the Vizcondes were murdered.

It said it had seven witnesses against Hubert Webb.

The findings were presented on Tuesday, two days before the 20-year prescription period for the filing of a case against new suspects ends on June 30.

An exasperated Webb said it was difficult to rely on “incognito” witnesses who could not even be subjected to cross-examination.

He said that like Alfaro, these new witnesses could be protégés of the NBI.

Freddie Webb also wondered why the new witnesses had never come forward.

“They had 20 years to testify. Why only in the last two minutes of the ball game?” said the former basketball star.

“These people are so thick. What they are doing is gross,” he added, and reiterated that his family was holding documents proving that his son entered the United States on March 9, 1991, and returned home on Oct. 27, 1992.