THE country’s most wanted criminal, cult leader and former congressman Ruben Ecleo Jr., said Thursday, July 30, 2020, that he has resigned himself to his parricide conviction over the killing of his wife Alona Bacolod-Ecleo.
“Kana, kana..kay nahibal-an na man. Pero actually, wala ko ana nagbuhat. Pero ako na lang angkonon og mao man galing,” he said when asked whether he had a hand in the killing of his wife in 2002.
Ecleo was presented before the media in a press conference at Camp Crame Thursday afternoon, about 12 hours after he was arrested in San Fernando City in Pampanga in Central Luzon.
He said he was tired of hiding.
“Better this way, hindi na ‘ko magtatago, I’m so tired of it already... sobrang hirap...nagustuhan ko na rin ito para hindi na ako magtago tapos pati ‘yung gustong makipagkita sa kin, magbisita makakita sa ‘kin kagaya (ng) kapatid ko at miyembro na die-hard pati ‘yung mama ko,” he said.
Police captured Ecleo 14 years after his graft conviction by the Sandiganbayan and eight years after a Cebu court found him guilty of killing his wife.
National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Director Major General Debold Sinas said they were very careful in the conduct of Oplan Almighty, the operation to arrest Ecleo, to avert any hostilities with members of religious organization Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA).
When police stormed the Ecleo mansion on Dinagat Islands on June 18, 2002, PBMA members engaged the police in a shootout that lasted about three hours. Sixteen PBMA members and a policeman were killed.
“In all the raids sa place ni Ecleo palagi bloody. Twice ‘yan bloody po yan kasi po we believe mga kapitbahay nya doon ay mga followers sa PBMA nya po and we are afraid na baka meron taga San Fernando or Angeles na kakilala at nakaalam na alam namin,” he said.
Sinas said they hoped to gain insights from Ecleo on how he has been able to elude authorities.
“We will be interviewing kung ano talaga ang kwento nya bakit sya matagal bago na-arrest at hindi sya umalis ng bansa pero nahirapan tayo magarrest sakanya. Kaya hopefully some of the insights niya will shed light para malaman namin modus operandi nya para mag-evade sa pulis,” he added.
Asked during the press conference how he was able to elude arrest for so long, Ecleo said it was because of “pakisama”.
“Simple as that. ‘Yun bang tinatawag na pakisama ba tapos syempre pag hindi ka gumawa ng masama,” he said.
He said PBMA members have been helping him elude arrest.
One of them is his driver, Benjie Relacion Fernan, who was arrested along with him. Fernan also hails from Dinagat Islands.
Sinas said Ecleo has been residing in Diamond Subdivision in Balibago in Angeles City together with his 30-year old wife and two-year old daughter.
He was using the name Manuel Riveral. A van that was confiscated from him during his arrest Thursday is under the fake name Marcos Macapagal Garcia.
Ecleo was convicted of parricide and sentenced to reclusion perpetua in 2012, 10 years after Alona Bacolod-Ecleo’s body was found inside a trash bag that was dumped in Dalaguete town in Cebu on January 8, 2002.
He surrendered six months later, on June 18, 2002, but not before a shootout between the police and PBMA members on Dinagat Islands killed 16 cult members and one policeman.
Ecleo was detained at the Cebu City Jail for nearly two years until March 2004, when he was allowed to post bail of P1 million.
The court, however, issued a new warrant for his arrest in April 2011 after he failed to attend court hearings. Three months earlier, the Sandiganbayan also issued a warrant for his arrest.
He had been in hiding until his arrest Thursday dawn in Pampanga.
Found in Ecleo’s possession during his arrest were a van, P173,000 cash, golf set, cellular phones and jewelry.
Sinas said Ecleo also surrendered three short firearms and one M16 rifle.
Ecleo had a P2-million bounty on his head and was the number 1 Most Wanted Person of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
He was also convicted of graft and corruption in October 2006 and sentenced him to 31 and a half years of imprisonment.
The charges stemmed from the fictitious construction deals that he entered into when he was town mayor of San Jose, Surigao del Norte between 1991 and 1994. (Third Anne Peralta-Malonzo/SunStar Philippines)