Inside the Webb of the Vizcondes

18^th of October, 2010

It has been such a long time since a special documentary airing filled my television screen. Last night, almost every person I know was tuned in to the Cheche Lazaro special about the other side of the Vizconde Massacre: the story of Hubert Webb. I caught it almost halfway already, and being born the year 1992, I wasn’t aware it since last night.

But it did not matter to me. Everything I needed to be supplied with the right information was presented there in the documentary, and all parties were accounted for. There were interviews from the Webb family, the government, and the father of the Vizconde victims. The progression of the case was presented fairly, but more importantly, Cheche Lazaro did not ask ‘How does it feel?’ She tweaked the course of the interviews to let the subjects tell how they felt. Kudos to Ms. Lazaro for that.

The angle of the story, which puts the Webb family at an advantage, is a good counter-argument on what the public believed to be true years ago. I admired how Cheche Lazaro was truthful in creating the documentary, especially since the Webb family claims the huge role of the media in instilling mob mentality against Hubert. Of course the news before was just as sensationalized as the ones we have today. Small lies of the press just to get more exciting stories, or perhaps the inset of Hubert Webb’s photo on the evening news while the crime evidence was being shown—these were hands that shoved the public to turn around and side wherever the more interesting and foul news is. It really takes courage to show something that could degrade one’s own profession, but Cheche Lazaro was able to execute it in such a brilliant way, showing clips of the younger Karen Davila interviewing Hubert Webb in court, and another of Pinky Webb in one of Hubert’s arranged family dinners in jail.

With this case, it is already proven: it’s not really the government who has control, but the media. And frankly, I’m scared as hell on how my generation is going to go about it.