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I find disturbing Chief Public Attorney Persida Rueda-Acosta’s announcement two weeks ago that there was a good chance Webb’s acquittal verdict in the Vizconde massacre case would be overturned on the basis of revelations by eight new witnesses and an intervention by former Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr. We all recall her leap for joy when she exclaimed: “I can’t believe it, no less than Vice President Guingona is willing to convince the Supreme Court to reverse its ruling!” — or words to that effect.
Without meaning to diminish the luster of the former Vice President’s prominence in our country’s chronic search for truth and justice, his lofty standing is generally not expected to dent the acquittal judgment. As the Justice secretary at the time of the investigation and trial of the case, he is presumed to have been in effective control of the prosecutorial efforts to convict the accused, thereby rendering weak any “new” argument he now presents — unless of course he can show the acquittal verdict was void, or otherwise was rendered with such an abuse of authority as bars the operation of the double jeopardy doctrine.... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110113com7.html
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