Ecleo Case Report needed to verify threats on Bacolods - DOJ

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Justice would need a written report of threats allegedly received by members of the Bacolod family before their situation can be properly assessed in line with the request to be reinstated into the Witness Protection Program.

These members of the Bacolod family are witnesses of the prosecution in the parricide case against Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA) supreme master Ruben Ecleo Jr.

Ecleo was accused as mastermind in the killing of his wife Alona Bacolod in 2002.

State Prosecutor Llena Ipong-Avila, Cebu head of the DOJ Witness Protection Program (DOJ-WPP), said she has directed prosecution lawyer Alfredo Sipalay to submit a written report of the threats received by the Bacolod family. It is only after a written report is made can the DOJ-WPP forward reassessment documents to DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima.

“I’m still waiting for the written report of the Bacolod’s family for the reassessment of their threats and also there is a process before redeeming the protection program and benefits,” Ipong-Avila said.

No less than the Cebu City and Province’s chapters of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), prosecution lawyers, and Crusade Against Violence (CAV) asked the DOJ to reinstate the Bacolod family into the WPP precisely because they are in “high risk.”

Lima terminated the protection security DOJ has extended to five of six members of the Bacolod family, saying that the threat to their lives has been reduced to a minimum after completing their testimonies in court. The order took effect last June 1, 2011.

The parricide case against Ecleo is pending before Branch 10 of the Regional Trial Court presided by Judge Soliver Peras. The case was transferred from one judge to another before it eventually landed in Peras’ sala late this decade. — (FREEMAN)