Lawyer: Ecleo's freedom is a mockery of justice

CEBU, Philippines - The PNP is busy looking for other people but not Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association supreme master Ruben Ecleo Jr., this according to lawyer Fritz Quiñanola.

Quiñanola, who is part of the prosecution team in the parricide case against the cult leader said it will be a “mockery of justice” if Ecleo is not arrested soon.

“There are more than 120,000 police officers all over the Philippines but until now since the warrant of arrest issued by the Sandiganbayan and Judge Soliver Peras of the Regional Trial Court they failed to arrest Ecleo,” he said.

Quiñanola said they received a report from the PNP that Ecleo cannot be located in his hometown in Dinagat, Surigao del Norte.

It was the Sandiganbayan that first issued a warrant of arrest against Ecleo on Feb. 4, 2011 after the latter was found guilty of a graft case more than five years ago during his tenure as mayor of San Jose, Surigao del Norte.

Government auditors discovered the transactions and the project of Ecleo on October 2006 were fraudulent since none of the first two buildings were finished while the guesthouse turned out to be a privately-owned structure.

On April 6, 2011 Peras cancelled the P1 million bail of Ecleo and issued the warrant of arrest against him for the failure to attend three consecutive hearings of his parricide case.

Ecleo was allowed bail claiming ill health due to his heart ailment. He is accused of killing his wife Alona Bacolod Ecleo in 2002. — (FREEMAN)