Protection sought for witnesses vs Ecleo

Before it becomes too late again, the Crusade Against Violence (CAV) is asking the Department of Justice (DOJ) to place a brother-in-law of detained cult leader Ruben Ecleo Jr. and three others under the government’s witness protection program.

CAV president Carina Agarao said placing Josevyl Bacolod and three other family members under the program will prevent another tragedy.

Josevyl was the brother of Ecleo’s wife Alona who was found dead, her body placed in a garbage bag and dumped in a ravine, in Cebu last January. Ecleo is facing parricide charges for her death.

In stressing the urgency of the CAV’s request, Agarao cited the massacre of Alona’s parents Elpidio and Rosalia, siblings Ben and Evelyn and a neighbor in Cebu City last June 18.

Earlier, she said Central Visayas regional prosecutor Hernando Masangkay had denied Ben’s inclusion in the witness protection program.

"No logic can explain this decision of Masangkay," Agarao said, adding that not even the representation of a provincial prosecutor made Masangkay reconsider his decision.

"He denied our request for reasons only known to him," she said.

She said Josevyl, who allegedly saw Ecleo and his driver load a black plastic bag into Ecleo’s car, should be accepted into the witness protection program.

Ecleo is now detained at the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center in Cebu City. He was sent there last June 21, a few days after he surrendered in San Jose, Dinagat, Surigao del Norte following a clash with law enforcers that left 16 members of his Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association and a policeman dead.

Last week, Cebu City prosecutors Gilbert Moises and Fernando Gubalane dismissed charges of illegal possession of prohibited drug against Ecleo.

The prosecutors said the police failed to establish that Ecleo was in "constructive possession" of a traveling bag which yielded 1.03 grams of shabu kept in a pack of soap, when he was admitted to Bagong Buhay. — Delon Porcalla