Police intensify manhunt vs Ecleo

CEBU, Philippines - Police Regional Office-7 has intensified its manhunt operation against the fugitive supreme master of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association and former Dinagat Island Representative Ruben Ecleo Jr.

Deputy regional director for operations, Senior Superintendent Condrad Capa, said they have intensified efforts to locate and arrest Ecleo. He said all intelligence units have been directed to verify reports about Ecleo’s sightings in Cebu.

Regional Intelligence Division chief, Senior Superintendent Pablo Labra II, said they received information that Ecleo was sighted in Talisay City, Dalaguete, and Argao early this month.

There were also reports that Ecleo was seen on a yacht in several coastal towns in Cebu but the information turned out to be negative.

Capa, who was responsible in the arrest of Delfin Lee, one of the big five most wanted criminals in the country, is confident that Ecleo will soon fall into the hands of the law because of the cooperation of the community.

Ecleo is among the “big five” which the government offered P2 million each for any information that would lead to their arrest. The other members of the “big five” are Lee, retired Major General Jovito Palparan, former Palawan Governor Joel Reyes and his brother, former Coron Mayor Mario Reyes.

Palparan was arrested Tuesday morning in Sta. Mesa, Manila by the joint operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation and the Naval Intelligence Group. Reyes brothers and Ecleo remained at large.

Ecleo has gone into hiding after his conviction at the Sandiganbayan for graft and corruption he allegedly committed during his administration as mayor of San Jose town in Dinagat Island.

He was also convicted by a Cebu City court for parricide for killing his wife, Alona Bacolod. — (FREEMAN)