MikeLigalig.com

Guilty of graft

Ecleo was represented by his lawyer Orlando Salatandre who said he didn’t know where his client was as they only communicated by phone.  Ecleo was detained at the Cebu City jail but released on a P1-million bail in March 2004, after the court allowed him to seek medical treatment for his heart ailment. His cardiologist had described him as a “walking time bomb” who could drop dead anytime due to probable cardiac complications.

Ecleo also faces a 31-year jail term after the Sandiganbayan found him guilty of three counts of graft during his stint as mayor of San Jose, Dinagat Island, for overpaying for the construction of two municipal buildings and for spending public funds for a women’s center owned by his group, the PBMA.

Salatandre said they would appeal the verdict before a higher court because there were issues raised by the defense that were not appreciated by the court. One of them was the question of identification. The defense contended that the woman found dead in Dalaguete was not Alona.

Alona’s family members, who were all in black, cried after the verdict was handed down. “Finally, my sister can rest in peace,” said Alona’s younger brother Josebil, one of the prosecution witnesses.

Josebil had testified that he heard his sister scream on the night that she was killed, and that he later saw Ecleo’s bodyguards carrying a garbage bag that they placed inside a vehicle.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=78891.0

100-page decision

The promulgation was scheduled at 3 p.m. but Judge Peras came out of his chambers at 5:17 p.m.  “I’m sorry our computer is not of standard, so we have to wait for a long time to finish the printing,” he told the courtroom, referring to his 100-page decision.

In his decision, Judge Peras described as weak Ecleo’s defense and alibi that he was at the PBMA chapter in Talisay at the time that Alona was killed.  Ecleo also claimed that the body found in Dalaguete was not Alona who, he said, didn’t come home after she went out with her friends.

But Judge Peras noted that Ecleo did not make any effort to look for his wife nor did he report her missing when she failed to come home.

Instead, he went to Lapu-Lapu City and later to Bogo City where he had a sing-along session with his friends.  Peras said that after he arrived from Bogo, the accused went to the police homicide section but only because the police had invited him after Alona’s siblings had reported her missing.

Peras pointed out that the accused claimed his organization had millions of members nationwide and had 20,000 members in Cebu alone—enough manpower to help him look for his wife.  “One word from him would galvanize his members into action to look for Alona Bacolod,” the court said.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=78891.0