Verdict out today

CEBU, Philippines - Guilty or not guilty?

The answer to the question will be known today as the Regional Trial Court has scheduled this afternoon the promulgation of judgment on the decade-old parricide case against the supreme master of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association and Dinagat Rep. Ruben Ecleo, Jr.

RTC Branch 10 Judge Soliver Peras said he will hand down the verdict today with or without Ecleo who has been in hiding since last year following his conviction of the anti-graft case at the Sandiganbayan.

Ecleo and two others were sentenced to suffer 30 years imprisonment because of an anomalous contract he entered into during his term as mayor of San Jose, Surigao del Norte in 1991 to 1994.

 Since his conviction at the anti-graft court Ecleo went into hiding prompting the Sandiganbanyan to issue a warrant of arrest in January last year. Ecleo has not also showed up before the court in Cebu where he is out on a P1 million bail for parricide case prompting Peras to also order his arrest.

Ecleo is accused of killing his wife Alona Bacolod in January 2002. The case has been dragging on for more than 10 years and has been transferred from one court to another upon the request of either the prosecution or the defense. Peras is the seventh judge to try the case.

Lawyer Fritz Quiñanola, one of the 20 lawyers who volunteered to prosecute the case after the original private prosecutor Arbet Santa Ana Yongco was murdered, is optimistic that a guilty verdict will come out.

"We have presented all evidence and hoping for Ecleo's conviction. At the same time we are happy at last we are now at the end of the proceedings, the promulgation," he said.

Should the court issues a guilty verdict, Quiñanola asked the over 100,000 policemen in the country to arrest Ecleo. Defense lawyer Orlando Salatandre could not be reached for comment.

Security

The Cebu City Police Office is deploying members of the Special Weapons and Tactics as well as the Motorcycle Riding Unit at the Palace of Justice today to ensure that the court is secured.

CCPO director Melvin Ramon Buenafe said that Peras has requested for additional security at the vicinity of the Palace of Justice.  (FREEMAN)