Ecleo in Manila for 2nd opinion on heart ailment

CEBU CITY — Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA) supreme master Ruben Ecleo Jr. was released from a hospital here yesterday by a court order affirming an earlier ruling granting him bail.

Ecleo, facing parricide charges for the killing of his wife, Alona Bacolod, two years ago, arrived on board a Philippine Airlines flight in Manila at about 1:20 p.m. yesterday.

Ecleo’s lawyer Orlando Salatandre said his client, released from the Chong Hua Hospital, was brought to Manila for a second opinion on his heart ailment.

Ecleo was initially diagnosed with coronary heart disease and was labeled as a "walking time bomb."

Regional Trial Court Judge Anacleto Caminade issued Ecleo’s release order the other day following his denial of the prosecution’s motion for reconsideration of Judge Generosa Labra’s order granting Ecleo temporary liberty on P1-million bail.

Labra formerly handled Ecleo’s parricide case but Caminade took over it last week after Labra decided to inhibit herself from the controversial case.

Salatandre said Ecleo will stay in Manila for as long as necessary but Ecleo reportedly wants to go back to his hometown on Dinagat Island in Surigao del Norte after treatment.

Salatandre reaffirmed his earlier statement that he would go to prison should his client escape prosecution.

He said he would even encourage Ecleo to attend future hearings so he would know the prosecution’s case against him.

Contrary to public perception, Salatandre said they do not have any intention of delaying the case.

Ecleo’s other lawyer, Giovanni Mata, said his client shed tears of happiness upon learning of Caminade’s order.

While Ecleo’s camp was happy over his release from the hospital, his slain wife’s brothers Ricky and Niño Bacolod, along with members of the Crusade Against Violence, staged a peaceful rally in front of the Palace of Justice.

Thelma Chiong, CAV vice president for the Visayas, said they now fear for their lives now that Ecleo is out of prison.

She, however, said they made a verbal agreement with the PBMA before the police two years ago that the PBMA would be held liable should anything happen to the Bacolod family and the prosecution witnesses. — Freeman News Service, Sandy Araneta