Ecleo Parricide case: Defense witness insists the body is not Alona's

The first defense witness in the parricide case against Ruben Ecleo Jr., in yesterday's cross-examination, stood by his previous testimonies that the body found in Dalaguete in 2002 was not of Alona Bacolod-Ecleo, the murdered wife of the accused.

Jose Dayaganon Sr., a leader of Ecleo's Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association, was visibly irritated over the incessant questioning of private prosecutor Alfredo Sipalay to provide all details of the cadaver that the witness reportedly saw at the time.

Dayaganon, noticeably raised his voice in answering questions to describe the similarity of the facial features of Alona's siblings that he said he knew personally before Alona was killed in January 2002.

The matter on the similarity in the physical features of the Bacolod siblings took a while to finish, prompting the court to ask the prosecution and defense to agree instead that those identified by Dayaganon were indeed siblings.

During the direct examination in the previous two hearings, Dayaganon, testified that contrary to earlier identifications the body found in Dalaguete town in 2002 was not that of Alona.

He also disputed the claims that other factors, such as clothes and jewelry, had pointed to the body as that of Alona's.

Dayaganon said he went to Dalaguete to verify a report on January 9, 2002 that the body of Alona was found and recovered from the bottom of a cliff there.

From Argao, he and a woman companion went to Dalaguete where they found the body in a funeral parlor.

Upon seeing the dead body, Dayaganon said he concluded that it was not Alona. He told the court that he has met Alona many times before to be able for him to conclude that the body was not hers.

"Wala gyud ko naka-identify adto nga hitsura didto sa morgue...ang akong nakita sa morgue dili gyud dagway ni Madam Alona Bacolod-Ecleo," Dayaganon testified.

He also testified that earlier on January 5, 2002 he went to Ecleo's house in Banawa, Cebu City to report his group's accomplishments and he saw that day Alona riding a vehicle with her brother Ben Bacolod, presumably to go to a party from what he gleaned of a conversation.

At the funeral parlor in Dalaguete, Dayaganon said that Alona's family, especially her father Elpidio, firmly believed that the body was that of Alona's.

Several months after the body was found, Ben, his father Elpidio and his wife Rosalia, were killed when a PBMA member peppered their house with bullets in Mandaue City. Ben was said to be the only witness to Alona's murder. - Joeberth M. Ocao/RAE