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Saturday, July 15, 2006
Ecleo to surrender if court orders his return to jail
By Jujemay G. Awit Sun.Star Staff Reporter
With Rene H. Martel
Prosecutors in the parricide case against Ruben Ecleo Jr. are “85 percent certain” he will be sent back to jail, after a cardiologist testified he found “no significant heart disease” in the accused.
Released on bail after his health was said to be failing, Ecleo has been out of detention since April 2004. He posted P1 million as bail.
Private prosecutor Fritz Quiñanola is optimistic there will be no repeat of the violence that surrounded Ecleo’s arrest in June 2002. At least 16 members of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA) were killed while trying to stop policemen from arresting their “supreme master.”
Lesson
“I don’t think so... The accused must have learned a bitter lesson by now and the police should be more careful already,” Quiñanola, a retired police official, told Sun.Star Cebu.
Ecleo’s defense counsel, Orlando Salatandre, also assured that the violence will not happen again. “If it is the order of the court (to send Ecleo back to jail) then we will abide by the judicial system,” he said.
He, however, does not agree with Quiñanola’s assumption that Ecleo is headed for detention again and added that Dr. Generoso Matiga’s testimony is not enough.
Second opinion
“That is his (Quiñanola’s) point of view, but we are relying on the actual health condition. It is easy to say that he (Ecleo) is physically fit,” said Salatandre.
After two examinations, Dr. Matiga gave Ecleo a clean bill of health.
The defense, however, is banking on the same testimony of Dr. Matiga, who also confirmed a “30 percent obstructive stenosis” or some narrowing and constriction of the former mayor’s arteries.
While Matiga said that this is “not serious,” Salatandre believes it should be enough reason for Ecleo not to be sent back to jail, especially with the poor conditions at the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC).
“Shall we wait for his condition to get serious?” Salatandre asked.
Salatandre added he might confer with Ecleo’s physician, Dr. Roberto Anastacio, regarding Matiga’s testimony.
In a separate interview, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña urged Dr. Matiga to take precautions, following his testimony.
“The doctor should be careful. Ecleo is a very dangerous man. I’m more than convinced. I think he (the doctor) should realize that,” the mayor said. “That’s why I salute him,” he also said of Dr. Matiga.
Identity
The mayor also acknowledged the need for the police to prepare for any eventuality, should the court send Ecleo back to the Cebu City jail.
He said PBMA members and supporters will surely be there and trouble could erupt.
Meanwhile, the defense again asked the court to dismiss the charge against Ecleo, who stands accused of killing his wife Alona in January 2002.
The defense filed a 34-page motion for reconsideration on the demurrer to evidence earlier denied by Judge Geraldine Faith Econg.
Ecleo, through his lawyers, answered four points the court raised in its denial.
Judge Econg has ruled that the defense’s doubts on the identity of the cadaver found in Dalaguete should be properly raised in a full-blown trial and not prematurely in a demurrer to evidence.
Prosecution witnesses had identified the body as that of Alona, based on her clothing and some jewelry.
‘Inconclusive’
But the defense argued that recognition was highly doubtful because the body recovered was “already beyond recognition.”
Ecleo also disputed the court’s order that the prosecution proved the cause of death as asphyxia, as a result of strangulation.
According to the defense, the testimony of the medico-legal officer, Dr. Nestor Sator, was “inconclusive.”
The motion for reconsideration also noted that the “court erred in holding that appreciation of the participation of the accused is not proper in a demurrer to evidence.”
Lastly, the defense disagreed with the court that questions on the credibility of witnesses should be raised during a trial, and not in a demurrer to evidence.
Ecleo reiterated that the prosecution has failed to establish any motive on his part to commit the crime, which warrants the dismissal of the case. (JGA/With RHM)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 15, 2006 issue)
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