Vizconde in ICU after 4 heart attacks

MANILA, Philippines - Lauro Vizconde, chairman emeritus of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), was sent to the intensive care unit of a Parañaque City hospital yesterday after suffering a fourth heart attack.

According Dante Jimenez, VACC founding president, Vizconde, 78, was rushed by his aides to the Unihealth Parañaque Hospital and Medical Center in Sucat, Parañaque at about 8 p.m. on Thursday.

 “He felt weak and asked his two aides to take him to the hospital,” said Jimenez.

Vizconde still lives in the house where his wife Estrellita, 49; and daughters Carmela, 18, and Jennifer, 6, were stabbed dead on June 30, 1991, Jimenez said. Carmela was also raped.

It was at the hospital that Vizconde suffered four heart attacks. The last one sent him to the ICU, he said.

“They (Vizconde’s relatives) are just waiting for the doctor to remove the life support machine anytime,” Jimenez told The STAR in a phone interview.

Jimenez said VACC members have gathered at the hospital for a prayer vigil.

Vizconde founded the VACC with Jimenez in 1998 as a movement to pursue justice for victims of heinous crimes. Jimenez’s brother, Jaime, was killed by drug pushers in Las Piñas on Dec. 20, 1990.

Jimenez said the Supreme Court’s decision to acquit all the accused in the murder of Vizconde’s wife and two daughters caused his health to deteriorate.

“He lost his will to live,” Jimenez said of Vizconde.

Vizconde was in the United States on a business trip when the crime happened. Several men, including former senator Freddie Webb’s son Hubert, were put on trial and were convicted of the crime in 2000.

The Supreme Court overturned the decision in 2010 and acquitted all of the convicts, who had been detained since 1995.