How "Lawless Lawyer" Might Help Provide A Useful Insight In Solving The UNSOLVED Vizconde Massacre Case
I never noticed that actress Lee Hye Young (who acted as Jun Pyo's mother in the FAILED Boys Over Flowers) looks like Atty. Amelita G. Tolentino -- the very same woman who did the Vizconde Massacre trial. I wonder if Hye Young was chosen because she looks like that incorrigible woman. Even more, the people in the fictional location of Kisaeng lived with trial by publicity and a twisted sense of justice, and people discover the HARD WAY that legal matters aren't as easy as they look.
Later, I found this article from the Inquirer by Ramon Tulfo about the Vizconde massacre case. I would like to share an excerpt about Tolentino herself:
Hubert Webb, who was jailed for 17 years for a crime he never committed, was married on Saturday, Feb. 6, at St. Andrews Church in Parañaque City.
Hubert’s bride, Cecille, wore a radiant smile that emphasized her tantalizing eyes.
Hubert met Cecille while he was serving a life sentence at New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City.
Hubert was released from prison four years ago.
During the rites, where I was a “ninong” or one of the wedding sponsors, my mind took me back to June 30, 1991.
That was the date when several men barged into the house of the Vizcondes where lived Estrellita and her two daughters, Carmela, 18, and Jeniffer, 6, at BF Homes in Parañaque.
They took turns raping Carmela and then stabbed to death the three of them.
The act was so gruesome it was dubbed “The Crime of the (20th) Century.”
One of the suspects in the massacre was Hubert Webb, whose father, former basketball star Freddie was a senator when the case was on trial.
Hubert was a victim of circumstances: an angry, irrational public crying for blood; a biased judge, Amelita Tolentino, who was eyeing a slot at the Court of Appeals; an inefficient National Bureau of Investigation (NBI); and Jessica Alfaro, a witness who was a drug addict.
No matter how much evidence was presented to Tolentino’s court showing that Hubert and his coaccused—who all met in court for the first time during the arraignment—Hubert et al. were convicted for three counts of rape with homicide.
I was one of the witnesses for Hubert.
I went to the United States to check on Hubert’s claim that he was in California at the time of the Vizconde murders.
Take note that the NBI never sent an agent to the US to investigate Hubert’s alibi.
I found that Hubert was in California at the time the Vizcondes were being butchered thousands of miles away.
The most telling fact was a receipt for a bicycle Hubert bought at the Orange County Bicycle Store.
The store was in Orange County, California, where he stayed in the house of his aunt who was married to an American immigration official.
The receipt says that a Hubert Webb, with a given address which was that of his aunt’s, bought the bicycle on—take note—June 30, 1991!
Even the US State Department sent a note saying that Hubert Webb was in America during the time the crimes were committed.
But the judge, who had a twisted sense of self-importance, wanted then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to come to the Philippines and testify in her court as a defense witness!
Revisiting the judge of the case
Some people still defended Tolentino like she was a virtuous woman. Reading the comments made me think of how people in Kisaeng kept worshiping the main antagonist Judge Cha Moon Sook like she's some infallible judge. Judge Cha wanted to become South Korea's next chief justice. Tolentino wanted a position at the Court of Appeals. Watching Lawless Lawyer progress made me think of the Vizconde Massacre case. If I'm not wrong, there was an Easter Egg where a father complained about his son being wrongfully sentenced over a massacre in Kisaeng.
However, plot twist or not, Judge Cha arranged several crimes herself, orchestrated clean-ups to avoid getting traced to her, and rigged the trials. An entry on Wikipedia gives this description to her by an unknown editor:
A senior judge who is highly respected but corrupt and greedy. She appears noble, caring, and just and will go through great lengths to protect that reputation. She has ordered murders, rigged trials, run a corrupt charity for her own gain, and chosen city leaders favorable to her cause. The antagonist of the series, she manipulates others with ease. She is a formidable opponent to any who cross her and shows no remorse for her past actions.
Tolentino appeared noble, caring, and just during the trial. However, one detail I never got in the past because I was only six years old when it happened, and the trial only happened in 1995. What would a child know anyway at that time? One interesting trivia is that Hubert REQUESTED FOR A DNA TEST. However, the judge herself refused the DNA test. Does that sound very fishy? DNA tests have been used in criminal investigations. In cases where the body was never found - a DNA test can still prove that murder took place. It's so sad that the late Lauro Vizconde thought he had justice and died without knowing the truth. This reminds me of the murky Chiong Sisters case that came later. Why wasn't the body found in the ravine given a DNA test to make sure it was Marijoy or if the sperm really matched Paco's sperm? Paco and his co-accused could've been freed. Was that a bad case of nepotism because Thelma Jimenea-Chiong was the sister of Joseph Estrada's personal secretary Cheryl Jimenea and related by marriage to Atty. Hilarious Davide?
It's also noted by the Philippine Star way back in 2001 that Tolentino herself was anything but a virtuous person by Teodoro Benigno:
We thought we had heard the last of that irascible and intemperate woman, Amelita Tolentino, a Regional Trial Court judge whose temper in a courtroom had the choler and character of a runaway cyclone. Remember her? She was the judge in the Vizconde massacre trial, she with the screaming voice, the overblown ego that brooked no opposition, and the gavel that fell on proceedings like a thunderclap. Well, Judge Tolentino has just been appointed to the Court of Appeals at the eloquent instance of the Judicial and Bar Council, a body with the probity of a bent crowbar.
I have in my time tilted with Judge Amelita Tolentino whose rages are legend in judicial lore. I was thrilled when the case against the three criminals who stormed my residence November 1995 (with two ringleaders who have mysteriously disappeared) and threatened me and my family with death, hogtied everybody in the house, was assigned to her sala a number of years ago. This was when she was still the trial judge in the Vizconde murder case when it was in its last phase. I, of course, attended the preliminary hearing on the hostage-robbery case involving the three criminals. I had to met her face to face.
When she called out my name, among others, in her usual peremptory way without probably knowing I was in attendance, I stood bolt upright. She gave me a mincing, quavering look as I fixed her a stare which was as wicked and malevolent as I could manage at the time. I intensely disliked her. Result? Judge Amelita Tolentino dropped the case, and assigned it to another sala. I never saw her again thereafter until the day she rendered her verdict on the Vizconde massacre. It was a verdict that took more than an hour to read, littered with bones and skeletons of scrawny, self-serving legal logic, and of course I rapped her for it.
I may not agree with Get Real Philippines (especially Benign0's economic ignorance while he ENJOYS LIFE IN AUSTRALIA) but this is a detail his wife Ilda gave:
The Philippine media for their part, never fail to sensationalize the news and conduct a trial-by-media just to fatten the bottom line of their CEO’s report. Whether it is about Hubert Webb or former President Gloria Arroyo, you cannot rely on the Philippine media to give a balanced view. Where else but in the Philippines is a movie made out of a case while the trial is still on-going? It’s safe to assume that most Filipinos who were old enough to care in 1991 know more about the details of the Vizconde massacre from the movie The Vizconde Massacre Story (God Help Us!). I wouldn’t even be surprised if the judge in Hubert Webb’s case based her decision on the movie. Hello! The crime was committed in 1991, the movie made in 1993, and star witness Jessica Alfaro emerged in 1995!
Ilda's mention of the press also reminds me of how Judge Cha was also a PUBLICITY ADDICT. Judge Cha loved the cameras more than justice. That's why it was easy to admire Judge Cha. The leading lady Atty. Ha Jae Yi once looked at Judge Cha as a mother figure. What Atty. Ha never realized was that Judge Cha had something to do with several crimes -- including her mother going missing! After watching several documentaries on the Vizconde Massacre instead of the VIVA Films productions -- I even wonder if Jessica was secretly a henchwoman of the judge herself! Why am I speculating that Jessica is secretly a henchwoman? Sure, it's crazy that I'm basing it on what Judge Cha did in a FICTIONAL K-Drama. Judge Cha rigged the trials. The Vizconde Massacre trial was most likely a rigged trial -- that was arranged through dishonest means. Tolentino was eyeing a position in the Court of Appeals. Judge Cha wanted to become the next chief justice of South Korea -- after many years she was the regional judge in the fictional location of Kisaeng. If Tolentino can look good then why not? Then Tolentino said words that may condemn her up to this very day. Alfaro's departure to Canada may have been arranged by Tolentino herself as well.
What was Tolentino's reasoning NOT to give a DNA test? My own speculation based on the character of Judge Cha is this. I'm led to believe that maybe that old witch Tolentino is HIDING SOMETHING. Tolentino may have been ordering murders and rigged trials to her own benefit like Judge Cha in Lawless Lawyer. Tolentino may have ordered the deaths of the Vizcondes and set up everything. The Vizcondes may have discovered her dirty laundry and had to be silenced. Tolentino probably has a grudge against any of the Webbs or anyone from the side of Hubert's mother. Tolentino may have decided to brutally kill two birds with one bazooka. Tolentino may have ordered her henchmen to murder the Vizcondes and find the perfect scapegoat sooner or later. Granted, it was the 1990s and the Internet wasn't as accessible as today. However, it's unlikely that Tolentino was ignorant about DNA testing. Tolentino probably KNOWS how DNA testing can incriminate someone. What if a simple DNA test of the sperm sample on Carmela's body would point to one of her own henchmen? That's probably why she made up that alibi about the DNA test!
It was good for Tolentino (and too bad for Hubert) that the Philippines has no lawyers like Atty. Bong Sang Pil. Atty. Bong could've roasted Tolentino's lack of character if he was real. Unfortunately, Atty. Bong was just a fictional character in Lawless Lawyer. Unlike Judge Cha -- Tolentino's probably happily retired somewhere assuming she has no conscience. Lawless Lawyer gave an ending that should've happened to Tolentino IRL. Tolentino's twisted sense of self-importance is very much like Judge Cha. Until now, no reports of Tolentino getting arrested and de-barred are on. Is justice more fun in the Philippines? I'm afraid that tagline #ItsMoreFunInThePhilippines has become an opium to forget about ongoing problems. Tolentino should've spent the rest of her life BEHIND BARS.
Lawless Lawyer may just be fiction. However, some fiction is based on real events. This is the kind of message that telebasuras lack. Just looking at it - Filipinos need to take a look at the FLIMSY JUSTICE SYSTEM than waste time watching telebasuras. Enough of trial by telebasuras already!
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