SC: No TRO on Sandiganbayan's arrest order vs Ecleo

MANILA, Philippines -  Dinagat Island Rep. Ruben Ecleo Jr. has failed to get a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the arrest warrant issued by the Sandiganbayan in connection with his conviction of graft for illegally disbursing government funds during his term as mayor of San Jose, Surigao del Norte 20 years ago.

Supreme Court (SC) spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said the SC has not yet acted on the “extremely urgent motion” filed by Ecleo last Friday to stop the implementation of the arrest warrant issued by the anti-graft court last Thursday.

“There is no TRO issued by the Court, which means that warrant of arrest issued by the Sandiganbayan stands and remains in effect,” he told a press conference.

Marquez confirmed that Ecleo had filed two separate petitions before the Court, both involving the graft case against him in the Sandiganbayan.

“The first petition was already dismissed and entry of judgment was in fact already made last year. That’s why the case was remanded to the Sandiganbayan, which eventually issued a warrant of arrest,” he said.

Ecleo’s second petition is still awaiting resolution.

“What the Court is reviewing now is what the effect of the resolution of the first petition on the second (is).”

In his motion, Ecleo, through his counsels Lucas Carpio Jr. and Jose Aspiras, asked the SC to freeze the arrest warrant pending the resolution of his third petition.

“The resolution of the Sandiganbayan is premised on the disposition of only two cases which have reached the Supreme Court assailing the conviction of petitioner and his co-accused in Sandiganbayan criminal cases no. 24457 to 69 and it failed to take into account the fact that a third petition is on file with this Honorable Court and has yet to be finally disposed,” the motion said.

Ecleo, head of the religious group Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA), was found guilty of graft for illegally disbursing funds for the construction of a public market, a new municipal building, and a guesthouse in his locality.

The Sandiganbayan first division found Ecleo guilty of three counts of violation of Section 3 of Republic Act 3019 (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. The anti-graft court found that Ecleo disbursed P4 million as payment to Santillano of PBMA Builders for the construction of a public market that remained unfinished. Auditors valued the finished portion of the public market at only P3.56 million.                                                            Prosecutors also questioned the overpayment to PBMA Builders of P3.85 million for the construction of a new municipal building, also unfinished.                                        

The contract price was P3.68 million. The finished part of the project was valued at only P1.44 million.                        

It was also discovered that Ecleo released P300,000 for the repair of a building owned by the PBMA Women’s League, a private group. In his first motion for reconsideration, he asked to be granted a new trial but was denied by the Sandiganbayan in February 2009.

Despite his conviction of graft and a pending parricide case in which he is accused of involvement in the killing of his wife Alona Bacolod-Ecleo in 2002, he was elected congressman in the May 2010 elections.