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By Jomar Canlas, Reporter
LAURO VIZCONDE said he has
forgiven the six men who had been convicted of raping and killing
his wife and two daughters.
On Monday the Court of Appeals
junked the motion of Hubert Webb, Antonio Lejano, Michael Gatchalian,
Hospicio Fernandez, Miguel Rodriguez and Peter Estrada to overturn
the life sentence handed down by a Parañaque City court.
They were found guilty of raping
and killing Estrellita Vizconde and her daughters Jennifer and
Carmelita in 1991.
In a telephone interview with The
Manila Times, Vizconde said he is happy that the Court of Appeals
affirmed the decision of the Parañaque Regional Trial Court. But he
said he would be closely following the case because the accused is
certain to file an appeal with the Supreme Court.
“We can never be sure what will
happen next. It is part of judicial proceedings to appeal the case
but I don’t want the people to lose their trust in our justice
system,” he said.
Vizconde said he never doubted
that the convicted men now serving time at the New Bilibid Prison
are the culprits.
Vizconde said that 17 days before
the crime was committed, his daughter Carmela had called him in the
United States to say that Hubert Webb, a son of a politician, was
courting her.
“There is always a motive
against them. I don’t see any other reason why my family was
killed,” he said.
But Vizconde said he has already
forgiven the killers because it is in forgiveness that he would find
peace of mind.
“When I was already convinced
they were the culprits, I forgave them. I was able to sleep soundly
by doing that,” he said.
Three of the five-member division
of the appeals court ruled that the life sentence meted out by Judge
Amelita Tolentino, now an appellate court justice, should be
affirmed.
The two dissenting justices said
the accused should be acquitted because their guilt was not proven
beyond reasonable doubt.
The appellate court said the
positive identification made by the star witness Jessica Alfaro was
more weighty than the alibi of Webb that he was in the US at the
time of the crime.
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