Ecleo Case: Prosecution lawyers to withdraw evidence

The prosecution panel in the parricide case filed against cult leader Ruben Ecleo Jr. yesterday asked Regional Trial Court judge Geraldine Faith Econg to allow them to withdraw pieces of evidence they had submitted to the court.

Prosecution lawyer Fritz V. Quiñanola hopes that the court would grant their motion, but the defense said it would object the move.

Econg yesterday called for a chamber conference with the lawyers of both parties, including the government prosecutors who used to handle the case filed against the former mayor of San Jose, Surigao del Norte.

Ecleo, the Supreme Master of the Philippine Benevolent Missionary Association, was accused as the mastermind in the killing of his wife, Alona, in January 2002.

The judge said she was surprised to find out that the prosecution panel - composed of members of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines - filed three different lists of their evidence.

One list of the "Formal Offer of Exhibits" was submitted to the court in the afternoon of January 10, the deadline set by the court, but the two others were filed beyond the deadline.

Reporters were not allowed to attend the conference lasting more than an hour. But after the meeting, defense lawyer Orlando Salatandre said: "We only accept exhibits that were submitted to the court within the reglementary period."

On that list of exhibits submitted by the prosecution to the court on January 10, several documents including, the death certificate of Alona Bacolod-Ecleo, were recorded as "not found" in the marginal note.

But Quiñanola explained that it was their staff who erred because what was filed in court was the draft of their "Formal Offer of Exhibits" with marginal notes intended only for their "own consumption." He said they tried to correct it by filing another list of exhibits.

Salatandre said he would object some of the prosecution's exhibits since they are irrelevant, without basis and could not be found in the dockets of the case.

The court has scheduled March 17 as the date for the defense to start presenting its evidence. - Rene U. Borromeo