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Friday, April 08, 2005
Supreme Court rules anew: Try Ecleo in Cebu
By Grecar A. Nilles
CEBU CITY -- For the second time, the Supreme Court (SC) denied the request of former mayor Ruben Ecleo Jr. to transfer the trial of his parricide case from Cebu to Manila.
As this developed, Ecleo's defense team filed yesterday a motion for reconsideration, asking the court to reverse its decision compelling Ecleo and his three children with Alona Bacolod-Ecleo to give DNA samples.
In a resolution dated March 16, the SC Second Division, upon the recommendation of the Court Administrator, ruled to deny Ecleo's request for transfer for lack of merit.
The resolution, however, did not elaborate on the decision.
Ecleo, who heads the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association, is facing a parricide case for allegedly killing his wife Alona last January 2002. He is out on bail.
He asked for the transfer of the hearing of his case because the Cebu City public is "hostile" to him, his family and his defense team.
Tremendous
But in both instances they asked the High Tribunal for the transfer, they were denied.
With the SC ruling, Regional Trial Court Branch 9 Judge Geraldine Faith Econg, who is handling the case, hopes the case can be decided before the year ends.
She said that with the resolution, they will stick to the scheduled hearings of the case. Trial is expected to end by November.
"We intend to finish the case as scheduled, unless there is a reasonable ground for delay," Econg said.
Lawyer Fritz Quiña-nola, who along with Alfredo Sipalay heads a group of Integrated Bar of the Philippines lawyers prosecuting the case, considers the recent SC decision a "victory" on the part of the prosecution.
"We are tremendously happy because justice will now proceed smoothly. With the recent ruling, the case can now go on full swing," Quiñanola said.
Not over
Had the SC ruled otherwise, Quiñanola said it would have weakened the chances of the prosecution in winning the case.
He said transferring the case to Manila or any other place outside Cebu would cause so many problems not only to their witnesses but to the lawyers as well.
"If the SC decided to transfer the case to Manila, who would pay for the witnesses and lawyers' fare and where will we stay? How about our security?" Quiñanola said.
Defense lawyer Giovanni Mata said they might no longer ask for any reconsideration. But he vowed to continue asking for the change of venue as soon as they can find another basis for the transfer.
Mata admitted, however, that at present the perceived hostility in Cebu City has waned.
Ask again
"But as time goes by, if we can see any reason for the transfer of the hearing to another place, we would not hesitate to ask the Supreme Court again," Mata said.
In their motion for reconsideration on the taking of DNA samples, defense lawyers Mata and Orlando Salatandre Jr. said the court erred in compelling Ecleo and his three children to give out blood and buccal swabs (which gather cell samples from one's inner cheek) for the DNA samples.
They said the court went beyond what was asked for by the prosecution, when it ordered for the DNA examination of the samples that will be taken from Ecleo and his three children.
"The prosecution only asked for the taking of the DNA samples, but the court ordered for the DNA examination of the samples," the defense team in their motion.
They also said that taking the DNA sample is no longer relevant in the case, since the issue is whether Ecleo killed his wife, and not the identity of the victim.
No warrant
The defense team said they have not yet questioned the identity of the dead woman found in Dalaguete, Cebu whose body was later buried in Talisay City.
In the motion, they added that compelling Ecleo and his three children to submit blood and swab samples is unlawful and arbitrary, since there is no search warrant issued against them.
Mata said DNA examination is just like searching the body of a person.
"In this case, there should be a warrant issued for the purpose," Mata said.
On top of that, the defense said the three agencies that were earlier asked to examine the swab and blood samples of the four Bacolod siblings did not say they cannot give any result without the samples from Ecleo and his children.
Alona's four siblings earlier gave blood and swab samples to the National Bureau of Investigation, University of the Philippines and the PNP to determine if the body found in Dalaguete, Cebu was really that of their sister Alona.
Although it didn't question the identity of the body, the defense neither admitted that the body was that of Alona. This prompted the prosecution to ask for the DNA tests.
(April 8, 2005 issue)
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