Lauro Vizconde ‘guardedly optimistic’ about new massacre witness

MANILA, Philippines—Lauro Vizconde was “guardedly optimistic” that the new witness of the Department of Justice (DoJ) would lead investigators to those who murdered his wife and daughters 20 years ago, his lawyer said in a statement Friday.

Ferdinand Topacio, Vizconde’s counsel, said that Vizconde wanted to find “closure” to the killing of his family “as he enters the twilight of his years.”

Vizconde, 72, still lives in the Parañaque City home where his wife Estrellita and daughters Carmela, then 19, and Jennifer, then 7, were brutally killed on June 30, 1991. Carmela was also raped.

“While we welcome the continued efforts of the Department of Justice to have the case revived before it finally prescribes in June of this year, Mr. Vizconde hopes that the investigation will not lead to another deadend as it had in the past. He hopes and prays that the new witness will shed light on what really happened, so that he may attain closure on this matter as he enters the twilight of his years,” Topacio’s statement said.

The statement also said that Vizconde held “no rancor” against those he believed killed his family.

“He simply wants to know the truth, even if those the new witness will name may no longer be prosecuted due to technicalities. We will cooperate with all efforts of the DoJ to unmask the culprits in this crime, if only for the sake of the truth, because for us the truth is eternal and has no deadline or prescriptive period,” it said.

The justice department, along with the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police, are racing against time to solve the 20-year-old massacre because the period wherein authorities can prosecute the accused in the crime will expire on June 30 this year.

The Supreme Court acquitted the principal accused Hubert Webb and six others in December, saying the prosecutors failed to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt. By then, Webb et al. had been imprisoned at the national penitentiary for 15 years.

On Friday, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said that the new witness—a woman—had already executed an affidavit.