Ecleo lawyers want end to trial

The lawyer of cult leader Ruben Ecleo Jr. has insisted that the court stop conducting hearings of the parricide case filed against him, and clear him of the charges because the prosecution has failed to establish any motive why he would kill his wife.

Orlando Salatandre said the failure of the prosecution to prove motive, being an essential element, the court should grant the demurrer that he had filed, meaning the judge should dismiss the case without the need to hear the defense of the accused.

Ecleo was accused of killing his wife, Alona Bacolod, by strangling her inside the couple's bedroom in their house in barangay Banawa, then placing her body inside a black plastic garbage bag and dumping it at a secluded place in barangay Coro, Dalaguete town, last January 5, 2002.

Despite of the gravity the case, the court allowed Ecleo to avail of temporary liberty while the case is still pending before the court after his doctor described him as a "walking time bomb" who can "die anytime" allegedly because of his heart problem.

Ecleo, the acknowledged supreme master of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association, claimed that Regional Trial Court judge Geraldine Faith Econg erred when she denied his demurrer to evidence that prompted him to file a motion for reconsideration.

Josebil Bacolod, the brother of Alona, testified before the court that the accused got mad at his sister when she insisted he undergo drug rehabilitation.

But Salatandre argued that during the cross-examination Josebil admitted that the night that Alona was reported missing he did not observe the couple quarreling and even saw them have dinner together.

Salatandre said the court should not give weight to the testimonies of witness Gloria Navaja who testified that it was Ecleo she saw on the evening of January 5, 2002 in Coro, Dalaguete, standing behind a red car and carrying a black garbage bag with another man.

He said her testimonies were unbelievable because she claimed she was at the scene because she left her mother's house five kilometers away because she was hungry.

"No person in her right mind will travel for five kilometers in the late hour of the evening and risk herself just to buy bread worth P10 and spend P20 for the fare of a habal-habal motorcycle," Ecleo's lawyer argued.

On July 28 the court will hear the arguments of the lawyers of both parties, before it would rule whether to grant or deny the motion for reconsideration. - Rene U. Borromeo