Ecleo Case: Prosecution wants the court to admit 36 pcs of evidence

The lawyers handling the prosecution of the parricide case filed against cult leader Ruben Ecleo Jr. yesterday formally asked the court to admit the 36 exhibits that were earlier rejected because of technicalities.

The prosecution claimed that the concerned evidences are all admissible and that their admission would help in obtaining justice for both the prosecution and the accused.

But it is expected that defense lawyers Orlando Salatandre and Giovanni Mata will oppose the move.

The defense lawyers even filed a motion for partial reconsideration asking the court to reject the other evidences, aside from the 36 exhibits that were already rejected, claiming that these are baseless and irrelevant to the case.

Private prosecutors Democrito Barcenas, Fritz Quiñanola and Alfredo Sipalay argued that some of the photocopied exhibits rejected by Regional trial Court judge Geraldine Faith Econg are admissible even without the authentication of the person who issued it.

The argument of the private prosecutors is that since the excerpts or the police blotter, certifications from the police are public documents, "therefore its authentication by the person who issued it is no longer necessary for its admissibility."

Among the exhibits rejected by the court was the bloodied black garbage bag dumped at a secluded place in barangay Coro, Dalaguete town, with a woman's body believed to be that of Ecleo's wife Alona Bacolod.

The bloodied garbage bag was not admitted as evidence because the prosecution has committed an error when they marked the said evidence as Exhibit "QQ" and presented that the bag was recovered from Ecleo's house in Banawa after the recovery of the dead body in Dalaguete.

Meanwhile, the prosecution also marked as Exhibit "XX" the other black garbage bag that was found in Ecleo's house. Econg said the court record showed that the evidence marked, as Exhibit "XX" is supposedly for the garbage bag that was found in Dalaguete, while "QQ" for the garbage bag that was recovered from Ecleo's house.

"The prosecution prays that the mix-up in the purposes of the offers of the aforesaid exhibits be rectified and with said rectification, it is prayed that these be admitted by this honorable court," the private prosecutors appealed to Econg.

Econg said the arguments for this specific issue will be conducted during the trial of the case on April 18. - Rene U. Borromeo