Prosecution moves to postpone anew Ecleo case hearing

The prosecution in the parricide case against cult leader Ruben Ecleo Jr. may not be able to present all its evidence before the court after it moved to cancel the hearing of the case yesterday.

Regional Trial Court judge Geraldine Faith Econg was already fed up with the postponements of the hearing, prompting her to order the prosecution to submit its evidence on December 16.

Lawyer Alex Tolentino, president of the Cebu City chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and Kit Enriquez have successfully convinced Econg to postpone the hearing because the results of the DNA examination conducted by the University of the Philippines were not yet available.

The prosecution was supposed to present yesterday Dr. Corazon De Ungria of the UP analysis laboratory to testify about her findings of the right femur taken from a dead woman believed to be Ecleo's wife, Alona Bacolod.

But in her November 8 letter, De Ungria told the court that she has problems with the analysis that there is still a need for additional tests. She asked the court for more time to get the definite results of the tests.

But defense counsel Orlando Salatandre said yesterday's postponement of the hearing was disadvantageous to the prosecution because it shortens the time for it to present its evidence.

"As of now, the prosecution still failed to prove the guilt of my client and they only have one more hearing to present their evidences," Salatandre said.

The prosecution asked the court to direct the police to submit all the evidence under their custody in relation to Alona's death. The evidence includes the jewelry and the dress worn by the woman, whose body was found dumped in barangay Coro, Dalaguete town.

Ecleo, former mayor of San Jose, Surigao del Norte, and son of Surigao del Norte Rep. Glenda Ecleo, was accused of masterminding the killing of his wife, a medical student. - Rene U. Borromeo