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Wednesday, March 02, 2005
DNA samples to be taken on March 7
The DNA samples of the three remaining Bacolod brothers will be taken on March 7, the first of two days that the corpse believed to be that of their murdered sister will be exhumed.
Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Geraldine Faith Econg of Branch 10 yesterday granted the urgent ex-parte motion filed by defense lawyers Giovanni Mata and Orlando Salatandre Jr. to move the sampling, which was originally scheduled on Thursday.
Specialists authorized by the court will take samples of the DNA genetic materials from Josebil, Ricky and Angelito Bacolod Bacolod.
Dr. Raquel Fortun of the UP Forensics Department, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Forensics Department, the PNP Crime Laboratory in Camp Crame, and staff members of the PNP Crime Laboratory here will take part in the process.
Comparison
The obtained DNA material will be compared with the material that the same team will take from the woman’s cadaver buried in South Cebu Memorial Garden in Talisay City.
The cadaver, that of a dead woman stuffed inside a garbage bag and found dumped in Dalaguete town in January of 2002, is believed to be that of Alona Bacolod-Ecleo.
Alona was the wife of former Dinagat Island mayor Ruben Ecleo Jr., who is now facing a parricide case.
The sampling shall be simultaneously done and a match will confirm whether the cadaver is indeed Alona’s.
Practical
In his motion, Mata said the court and the parties have not agreed about the taking of the DNA samples from the Bacolod brothers on March 3, as contained in Econg’s order.
“Notably, the undersigned counsel is holding office in Pasig City and considering the distance of Cebu City, not to mention the expenses for the accommodation and transportation that will be entailed in going to and fro, it is deemed convenient and practicable to have the taking of the DNA samples from the Bacolod brothers be set and conducted on the same date scheduled for the exhumation of the alleged dead body,” the motion read.
Econg earlier directed the Bacolod brothers to appear before her tomorrow for the taking of the DNA samples.
The DNA samples of the Bacolod brothers would then be compared with the DNA samples that would be taken from the woman’s body.
On guard
Alona’s burial site is now on guard after reports that suspicious-looking and motorcycle-riding men have been noticed frequenting the cemetery.
Ecleo is accused of strangling to death Alona, then a second year medical student, on Jan. 5, 2002 in their residence in Banawa, Cebu City.
Three days later, the body of a woman was found in Corro, Dalaguete town. Th Bacolod family later identified the body as that of Alona.
At present, only Josebil, Angelito, Ricky and a little sister survived after their other family members were massacred in Mandaue City on June 18, 2002 by a lone gunman, a member of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association, which Ecleo heads. (GN/KNR)
(March 2, 2005 issue)
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