Sandigan convicts Ecleo, 2 others

The Sandiganbayan sentenced cult leader Ruben Ecleo Jr. yesterday to a maximum of 31 and a half years in jail and two others to a maximum of 20 years each for graft charges in connection with illegal disbursements of government funds during his stint as mayor of San Jose, Surigao del Norte from 1991 to 1994.

The anti-graft court’s first division found Ecleo guilty of three counts of violation of Section 3 of Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. 

His two co-accused — former municipal planning and development coordinator Anadelia Navarra and businessman Ricardo Santillano — were convicted of two counts of the same violation.

In a 28-page decision, the anti-graft court found Ecleo to have favored Santillano of PBMA Builders when he disbursed P4 million as payment for the construction of a public market that was unfinished.

Auditors valued the finished portion of the public market at only P3.56 million.

Prosecutors also questioned the overpayment to PBMA Builders in the amount of P3.85 million, which was supposedly for the construction of a new municipal building. 

The contract price was only P3.68 million, and a mere 37.38 percent of the project, valued at only P1.44 million, was accomplished.

Ecleo was also found to have released P300,000 for the repair of a building owned by the PBMA Women’s League, a private group.

Ecleo, supreme master of the Philippine Benevolent Missionary Association, is being tried in Cebu for the killing of his wife, Alona Bacolod.