When justice isn’t served.

The Vizconde massacre case just ended yesterday when Mr. Hubert Webb was acquitted from 15 years of living behind bars. I cannot imagine Mr. Lauro Vizconde’s pain over the final decision and I just cannot imagine how much baffled Webb is for getting sentenced to jail when in fact he is really innocent.

A while ago, when I was inside the car listening to the news on the radio, I can’t be any more horrified to find out that after fifteen years of seeking justice, after years of waiting for the final verdict of the Vizconde massacre, it ended up with nothing but injustice.

I know I am in no position to judge since I don’t have a clear idea what really happened years ago and I have no enough information to what really transpired that day. All I know is that three innocent lives were lost and a father was deprived of his family. That enough fact, deserves justice.

I do not accuse of Webb nor telling the Vizconde’s don’t deserve justice but I believe that Webb isn’t supposed to be living in jail for fifteen years just because of a reasonable doubt. Guilty or not, everyone deserves a free and worthy trial.

Yet, after everything that happened, the final verdict was to acquit those who were accused of the crime. I cannot fathom that the death of three innocent people would end up with nothing, that the case that Mr. Vizconde fought over for fifteen years just to seek justice for his family is still nowhere in sight.

It is quite alarming that our justice system has failed us once again. It is not because I believe Webb is the one responsible of the crime, but because of the lose-lose situation that transpired in this case. I cannot comprehend the torment Mr. Vizconde experienced because he lost his family but I cannot imagine living behind bars either, only to be acquitted and declared innocent after fifteen long years. Just try to imagine yourself in both of their situations and you will be baffled as hell.

Mr. Vizconde lost his family through a heartless murder and Webb didn’t see his 17 year old son grow up just because he got sentenced to jail because of some sick reasonable doubt which the court later determined something as false. Webb and the others are already free but if they are in fact innocent, they don’t deserve the burden they experienced for the last fifteen years and taking forever to clean their reputation again.

No matter which side you look at it, justice isn’t served in this case. Justice for Mr. Vizconde and his family that he spent fifteen years of seeking and justice for the freedom of Webb which they spent fifteen years of fighting for. Both are just really victims of the slow and fucked up justice system in the Philippines. In this country, justice isn’t served.