A FAMILY REUNITED Relatives and friends of Lauro Vizconde arrive at Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City on Wednesday to bury him next to three members of his family who were murdered in 1991. Joan Bondoc
An inspiration, a good father, a man “we can all be proud of.”
This was how friends and family members honored Lauro Vizconde as he was laid to rest Wednesday next to his wife and two daughters who were murdered in their own home in 1991—a gruesome crime that sent him on a quest for justice the rest of his life.
Vizconde, who died on Feb. 13 after suffering a series of heart attacks, got his wish to be buried next to spouse Estrellita and children Carmela and Jennifer at Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City.
At necrological rites held Tuesday night at Heritage Memorial Park in Taguig City, the 77-year-old Mang Lauro (not 78 as earlier reported) was also remembered for turning his personal tragedy into a mission. He was a founding member of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), a watchdog group who continued to hold him in high esteem as its chair emeritus.
Pete Principe, one of the private prosecutors in the Vizconde case, hailed him as “a symbol of justice and truth” who never wavered in his commitment to help other crime victims.
Principe recalled that a week before Vizconde was rushed to the hospital for the last time, he asked the lawyer to set up a meeting with a family whose property had been forcibly taken from them.
“He said: ‘Pete, I hope you help them; they are poor’,” the lawyer said. Vizconde was already physically weak and requiring assistance himself, “but that was the real character of Mang Lauro… How can I forget his last request.”
VACC Chair Dante Jimenez said Vizconde loved his family so much that he refused to sell the house in BF Homes, Parañaque, where his loved ones were killed—with Carmela also raped—on June 30, 1991. “He is the epitome of a father with so much love (to give). He refused to let go of the house because he connects to his family through it.”
Mary “Rosebud” Ong of the People’s Movement for Justice cited Vizconde’s courage, “his stamina to fight.”
‘Let go, be happy’
“Nothing can stop him. For someone who had so little (in material wealth), he gives us so much hope,” she said. “Now, the father of the VACC is resting. I’m happy when I think he is going to be together with his family.
“Ka Lauro, let go, be happy and we are here to remember your legacy,” she added.
In a statement read out during the rites, Vizconde’s relatives said: “(His) was a life marred by grief and sorrow during that fateful day that shattered his dreams, his will and his life. From that tragedy arose a man out for justice—justice for his family—and eventually a founding member of the VACC.”
In January 2000, the Las Piñas City court convicted six men for the crime, including Hubert Webb, son of former senator Freddie Webb. The guilty verdict was upheld by the Court of Appeals in December 2005.
But the Supreme Court, voting 7-4, acquitted Webb and the others in December 2010, and twice denied Lauro Vizconde’s motion for reconsideration the following year.