Is he the right Filart?

He may be a real Joey Filart, but is he the right one?

Joey Filart, the alleged seventh suspect in the controversial Vizconde massacre, was flown to Manila yesterday and brought to the Parañaque City jail yesterday to be indicted and tried on the case.

Parañaque Regional Trial Court Judge Helen Ricafort was the first to air concern on the identity of Filart who was arrested in Isabela by local police agents on Friday morning and presented to her yesterday.

She asked the Isabela police to identify Filart as the suspect in the Vizconde carnage, and when they did she issued a commitment order for the suspect to be put in jail.

The order justifies Filart's incarceration while he is waiting to be tried in court.

Inspector Jose Taul, Parañaque jail warden, said Filart was calm when he was escorted to his cell by jail guards. He was accompanied by his lawyer Ruben Aldea and several relatives.

Chief Superintendent Thompson Lantion, head of the Cagayan Valley police, admitted that those who arrested Filart were not "totally sure" if he was the real Vizconde suspect.

He insisted, however, that the address in the identification card found in Filart's wallet -- 33 Barcelona st., Merville Subdivision, Parañaque -- matched the last known address of the Vizconde suspect.

Lantion's men caught Filart in a relative's house in Zone 3 in San Mariano, a former logging concession town at the foot of the Sierra Madres some 60 kilometers from Ilagan, Isabela's capital.

He said that in the first week of January, intelligence operatives scoured the coastal town of Palanan where Filart was reportedly sighted. Failing to find him, the operatives them combed other remote towns of the province where the alleged fugitive was reportedly hiding.

Lantion explained that Filart was living with a rich and influential relative in San Mariano. He declined to identify Filart's relative, however, pending further investigation. He said the relative may be charged with coddling a criminal and obstruction of justice should it be proven that Filart is the same man linked to the Vizconde case.

The Cagayan Valley police chief pointed out, though, that Filart did not resist arrest. He said the young man admitted to him that he was a nephew of retired police Gen. Marino Filart, former chief of the now defunct Capital Region Command (Capcom).

Yet he said establishing the "real" Filart now rests on the court.

"It's up to the court now to confirm if the Joey Filart we arrested is the same Joey Filart described by the star witness (to the Vizconde case). We are just doing our job in enforcing the standing warrant of arrest against the fugitive," Lantion said.

Parañaque Judge Amelita Tolentino issued a warrant of arrest for Filart and a certain Artemio "Dong" Ventura after handing out reclusion perpetua or 40-year jail terms to six scions of prominent families she convicted last Jan. 6 for the Vizconde massacre.

The six were Hubert Webb, son of former Sen. Freddie Webb; Peter Estrada, Hospicio "Pyke" Fernandez, Michael Gatchalian, Antonio "Tony Boy" Lejano and Miguel Rodriguez. They were arrested in 1995 after they were accused by Jessica Alfaro, a confessed eyewitness, of involvement in the crime.

Filart and Ventura, however, were never arrested. Ventura, for one, is believed to have fled the country.

But is he really the right Filart?

The answer will finally be known tomorrow when Filart comes face to face with Alfaro, the lone eyewitness who provided the key to the eight-year-old Vizconde massacre mystery.

National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Federico Opinion said only Alfaro can say if Filart was the same person she mentioned as among those who killed Estrellita Vizconde and her daughters Jennifer and Carmela in BF Homes, Parañaque on June 29, 1991.

"Only Jessica can decide if he is the real Filart or not. That's why we're producing her on Monday," Opinion said.

Filart bore a striking resemblance to the cartographic sketch the NBI had done based on the description provided by Alfaro. Except for his cropped hair, he looked similar to the man in the sketch given his thick eyebrows, chinky eyes, prominent nose and lips.

Filart's younger brother Diego, meanwhile, said their family is confident that Joey would be cleared by Alfaro once she meets him.

"We want Alfaro to meet and finally clear him," he said.

Diego noted that this will not be the first time that his brother will be facing Alfaro. Several years ago, then NBI chief Salvador Mison also presented Joey to the witness but the latter told probers that "he was not the same Joey" she knew.

Diego said the Isabela police could have spared them from further trouble had they first checked Joey's birth records.

"They should have checked his birth certificate first. They would know that he was really from San Mariano," he stressed. "We hope this controversy on my brother's identity finally ends." -