Toral: New media and the Vizconde case

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

WHEN news came out about DNA evidence in relation to the Vizconde Massacre going missing, the Webb family started a campaign appealing for justice for Hubert Webb, who has been in prison for more than a decade now.

They set up a Facebook group page at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=115489978501905 to give their side of the story. Interest on the subject heightened further when the Probe Team aired a documentary that gave Filipinos a glimpse of a person whom many have judged.

Have something to report? Tell us in text, photos or videos.

When I met Fritz Webb, it was an interesting experience. Being an older sibling, I am protective of my younger sisters. So I was able to relate to how he feels about the issue. Fritz cares so much about telling as many people as possible about his younger brother, Hubert’s, side of the story. That made me listen and read about the case.

That experience affected me for it made me realize how I have been unfair in recognizing the obvious and allowed myself to just listen to whatever the traditional media and personalities were saying at that time. I hardly cared for the explanations by the other side.

Traditional media played a heavy role behind the jailing of Hubert Webb. My curiosity on the case made me blog about it twice, the most recent at ww.influentialblogger.net, prior to meeting Hubert Webb. Since that blog post, I got asked by friends on what I thought about the issue and the bigger question of whether social media can play a role in encouraging more discussion on the matter.

Genuine conversations, I believe, can take place as more and more documents about the Vizconde Massacre become available to the public. For example, the judgment given by the Regional Trial Court and Court of Appeals on that specific case. This reconciled with the dissenting opinions, evidences ignored, traditional media articles that have influenced the public at that time.

Looking at it in hindsight and with complete information will allow Filipinos to better reflect on the issue.

From there perhaps, people might begin to care and start asking questions. Have we seen improvements in the justice system that has sentenced Hubert Webb to jail and left his case still pending? Can we say that our justice system is progressing? If the answer is no, do we want this system to remain that way?

I’m not sure whether new media will have any weight to spark change in our justice system. I also feel that there are more stories about the case that we do not yet know.