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Friday, January 28, 2005
Judge hangs on to Ecleo’s case
By Grecar Nilles
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
Three years since Alona Bacolod-Ecleo’s death, the prosecution panel in the parricide case against former mayor Ruben Ecleo Jr. yesterday rested its case, after it failed to locate the security guard of the subdivision where the Ecleo couple lived.
Also yesterday, Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 9 Judge Geraldine Faith Econg denied the defense’s motion for her to inhibit from the case.
Even with the absence of security guard Rodrigo Panelio, the prosecution panel, made up of members of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) and public prosecutors, is confident the evidence so far presented can convict Ruben of parricide.
Ecleo, leader of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA) and former mayor of San Jose in Dinagat Island, Surigao del Norte, is accused of killing his wife Alona in January 2002.
Lawyers Alfredo Sipalay and Fritz Quiñanola, who are the lead prosecutors in the case, said they can no longer locate Panelio.
Panelio was supposed to testify that he saw Ecleo leave Forest Hills Subdivision in Banawa, Cebu City in haste on board his red Toyota car last Jan. 5, 2002.
But Panelio could no longer be found after he executed an affidavit.
A source at the Palace of Justice told Sun.Star that the prosecution actually has another male witness but decided not to present him in court because his testimony was “too good to be true.”
Meanwhile, Econg, the sixth judge to handle the parricide case, denied the defense panel’s motion to inhibit. They submitted it following reports that two women, believed to be members of the PBMA, tried to bribe her.
Although they did not question Econg’s integrity, defense lawyers Orlando Salatandre Jr. and Giovanni Mata said the judge might feel bad, especially toward the defense, after the bribe attempt.
But Econg, in a three-page order, said there is no basis for her to inhibit herself from the case.
“It would be to the best interest of justice that this presiding judge would declare that she harbors neither ill feeling, nor positive feelings for or against any of the parties or counsels of this case,” the order read.
She said Ecleo’s allegation that she might become partial or biased against him is a baseless
conjecture.
“For who else can know what this presiding judge feels but herself? In refusing to inhibit in this instant case, this presiding judge feels that the people’s faith in the courts is not in any way impaired,” Econg’s order read.
After the prosecution rested its case, Econg gave them 20 days to submit their formal offer of
exhibits.
She also gave the defense 20 days to file its comment or opposition to the prosecution’s formal offer of exhibits.
The hearing will resume on March 31.
(January 28, 2005 issue)
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