Justices do not lobby, says SC spokesman By Benjamin B. Pulta 11/27/2010

Justices do not lobby, says SC spokesman

By Benjamin B. Pulta 11/27/2010

An official of the Supreme Court has denied allegations by anti-crime advocate Lauro Vizconde that a high court magistrate is allegedly lobbying for the acquittal of Hubert Webb, one of the men convicted of killing his wife and two daughters in 1991.

Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, who had testified for the defense in the Vizconde massacre case in the 1990s, refused to comment because he does not want to dignify the accusation that appears to be based on hearsay, Court Administrator and spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said.

“That is pure speculation. That serious allegation will have to be proved. The allegation alone says that it’s hearsay,” he stressed. Carpio had recused from the Vizconde massacre case at the outset of the hearings in the high tribunal in 2007 due to his participation in the trial when it was still being handled by the Parañaque Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 274 as a witness.

“His reason was accepted by the court and therefore he is already out of this case,” Marquez stressed..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20101127hed4.html