MANILA, Philippines – Lauro Vizconde, a losing party in a 20-year-old murder case at the Supreme Court, wants Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio disqualified from becoming chief justice.
In a letter to the Judicial and Bar Council on Thursday, July 19, Vizconde – whose wife and daughters were brutally killed in 1991 – said that Carpio lobbied for the 2010 acquittal of the principal suspect behind the murders, Hubert Webb. Vizconde cited dismissed Chief Justice Renato Corona as the source of this information.
“Talagang binabraso at iniimpluwensyahan ni Carpio ang kanyang mga kasama para mapawalang-sala si Webb,” (Carpio is trying to influence the vote of others so that Webb will be acquitted),” Corona allegedly told him in a meeting in September 2010.
According to Vizconde, Corona said this in the presence of Dante Jimenez, a co-founding chairman of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption.
Jimenez, who endorsed Justice Secretary Leila de Lima for the position of chief of justice, also opposed Carpio’s bid for the same post.
Vizconde also noted that a daughter of the ponente (writer) of the decision acquitting Webb – Justice Roberto Abad – works at Villaraza Cruz Marcelo & Angangco, Carpio’s former law firm.
“I respectfully submit that, insofar as my knowledge is concerned, at least in the case of People vs. Webb, Mr. Justice Carpio has exhibited his tendencies to submit to corruption and to entertain biases to serve his own personal interest and the interest of those close to him,” Vizconde wrote.
Carpio, who testified in favor of Webb when he was still in private practice, had inhibited from the case.
Vizconde also questoned Carpio’s credibility following Corona’s previous assertion that it was Carpio who had pushed for his impeachment. Corona was impeached in 2011 and was removed from his post last May 29. – Rappler.com
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