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Saturday, July 29, 2006
Ecleo case judge: victim my classmate
By Jujemay G. Awit
CEBU CITY -- The sixth judge to preside over the parricide case against Ruben Ecleo Jr., "supreme master" of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA), was asked for the second time to let go of the case.
This time, Ecleo cited the admission of Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Geraldine Faith Econg that she and the late private prosecutor of the case, Arbet Sta. Ana-Yongco, were law school classmates.
"Let us not drag that here. The private prosecutor who died, I know you are saying that this is one of the reasons, but that's another issue that I would like you not to drag here, because I don't know if you are aware, that the private prosecutor who died was a classmate of mine," said Judge Econg during the hearing last July 13.
She was reacting to private prosecutor Fritz Quiñanola's comment that the Ecleo trial has dragged on because of Yongco's death.
Yongco was gunned down inside her home on October 11, 2004. At least three alleged PBMA members are on trial for her murder. Ecleo, for his part, stands accused of killing his wife, Alona Bacolod-Ecleo, in January 2002.
Now the defense has pounced on the comment that the judge meant for the prosecution.
Friendship
Econg's lawyer, Orlando Salatandre, filed the four-page motion for inhibition at 2 p.m. Friday. He previously obtained a transcript of the July 13 hearing.
The motion also quoted Judge Econg as saying, "She (Yongco) used to be my sister. So let's not drag that issue. Otherwise, I will be in conflict professionally."
"I have been always of the belief that that (Yongco's murder) is not an issue in this case. And I'm sure that you will all admit that it is not an issue," she added.
But the Ecleo camp disagreed.
"That undoubtedly, being classmates and seatmates, (Judge Econg and lawyer Yongco) had developed closeness, intimacy and a special kind of friendship during their law school days and even continued when they became lawyers," the new motion for inhibition read.
Econg first read the motion during the proceedings Friday.
In pushing for her to let another judge handle the case, the defense noted that Judge Econg, "by merely reading the records of the instant case, would inescapably remember her dear friend and classmate."
First attempt
In January last year, Ecleo also asked Judge Econg to inhibit herself from hearing his parricide case, amid reported attempts by PBMA members to bribe her. She had called up Salatandre to request that he ask the PBMA members to stop offering her anything.
Before the case was raffled to Econg's sala in late 2004, five other judges had already handled it but later inhibited themselves: Judges Olegario Sarmien-to, Galicano Arriesgado, Generosa Labra, Anacleto Caminade and Ireneo Gako.
Quiñanola, immediately after Friday's hearing, dismissed the motion as a delaying tactic.
The prosecution has filed a motion to have Ecleo checked, to find out if he is fit enough to go back to jail. His health, then described as failing, was the reason he was allowed to post bail in 2004, some two years after the case was first filed.
Ecleo underwent two physical examinations last month, as ordered by the court.
Dr. Generoso Matiga, a cardiologist, conducted the examinations, a two-dimensional echocardiogram and a 30-minute treadmill stress test.
Salatandre begged off from continuing with his cross-examination of the witness.
The motion for inhibition that he filed Friday also carried a motion to defer the proceedings.
'Abnormal'
But Judge Econg did not want Dr. Matiga to have to return to court for another day, considering his "valuable time" as a cardiologist.
"Besides (the motion for inhibition) is not the meal for the day, the meal for the day is the motion to recommit Ecleo," said Econg.
Salatandre conceded. Econg gave the prosecution five days to comment on the motion for inhibition, which will be debated in court on Sept. 14.
Matiga testified that Ecleo's 30 percent stenosis or obstruction of the coronary artery is "not significant."
Salatandre brought up the "abnormal" heart rate that was recorded during Ecleo's treadmill stress test.
Matiga explained that it was considered "a normal abnormality," considering that Ecleo was on the treadmill then.
Court spectators roared when Dr. Matiga, apparently unsatisfied with how Salatandre interpreted one of his answers, announced, "I object!"
"Do you think he'll get appropriate medical attention in jail?" Judge Econg asked the doctor.
"Regardless of where he stays, as long as he takes his medicine and gets a regular follow-up with his doctor," said Matiga. (Sun.Star Cebu)
(July 29, 2006 issue)
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