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Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Fiscals want Alona dug up
By Grecar Nilles
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
AFTER resting its case, the new prosecution panel handling the parricide case against former mayor Ruben Ecleo Jr. is now asking the court to exhume the body believed to be that of Ecleo’s wife Alona Bacolod-Ecleo.
But the panel clarified that making the request does not mean they have yet to identify the body, which was found in Barangay Corro, Dala-guete, Cebu three days after Alona was killed.
The panel, mostly members of the local Integrated Bar of the Philippines, said the motion is meant to “preclude all doubts as to the identity of the remains of the late Alona Bacolod-Ecleo.”
They said their omnibus motion for exhumation was not intended to delay the case, but was made in good faith.
After the exhumation, the panel wants a DNA test, with samples to be compared with DNA material from Alona’s brothers Ricky, Josebil and Angelito Bacolod.
The lawyers also want an examination on the teeth of the corpse, in comparison with Alona’s dental records.
Lawyer Fritz Quiña-nola, who along with lawyer Alfredo Sipalay leads the panel, said they sought an exhumation only to preempt any move by the defense to question the identity of the corpse when the case goes on appeal.
“We are convinced that the body found in Dalaguete was identified to be that of Alona. But we have decided to have the body exhumed so that, once and for all, the issue on the identity of the woman would be resolved,” Quiñanola said.
He said the prosecution panel does not want that what happened in the Chiong case to happen in Ecleo’s parricide case.
In the Chiong case, the defense continued to question the identity of the body of a woman found in Carcar, Cebu, even if the Supreme Court has already affirmed the decision of the lower court.
The prosecution earlier maintained that it was the body of victim Marijoy Chiong, which the court believed, sending six of seven men to death row.
Ecleo, who heads the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association, is facing a parricide case for allegedly killing Alona on Jan. 5, 2002.
The body of a woman was then found three days after in Dalaguete, Cebu. It was wrapped inside a black garbage bag.
Josebil had testified that Ecleo, along with his former driver Juryven Padero, was carrying a black garbage bag and placed it in the car’s baggage compartment, after the couple argued that night.
Ecleo has been out on a P1-million bail since April last year.
The defense did not admit that the body found in Dalaguete was that of Alona.
“However, if the defense will admit that the remains identified by the prosecution witnesses as that of the late Alona is really that of the deceased wife of accused Ecleo, then the prosecution will no longer insist on its exhumation, DNA testing and dental check,” the motion read.
The prosecution has rested its case and was supposed to submit its formal offer next week.
But with their request for exhumation, the prosecution asked that the court hold in abeyance their submission of the formal offer of exhibits until their motion for exhumation is resolved.
(February 16, 2005 issue)
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