For the third time, Sandiganbayan orders arrest of Ecleo

MANILA, Philippines -  For the third time, the Sandiganbayan has ordered the arrest of Dinagat Islands Rep. Ruben Ecleo Jr. who was convicted of graft five years ago.

The anti-graft court’s first division, in a resolution released yesterday, junked his “very urgent motion for reconsideration” of a Feb. 17 ruling rejecting his appeal for the withdrawal of the warrant of arrest issued against him.

The Sandiganbayan said Ecleo’s claim that the arrest order was prematurely issued because of pending actions with the Supreme Court (SC) “is bereft of merit.”

The anti-graft court noted that the congressman and two other co-accused, his former municipal planning and development coordinator Anadelia Navarra and private contractor Ricardo Santillano of PBMA Builders, were already convicted on Oct. 13, 2006.

Records show that Ecleo filed a verified motion for new trial on July 28, 2008, which was denied by the High Tribunal along with two motions for reconsideration.

On Nov. 16, 2009, the accused again filed a petition for certiorari, a pleading which seeks to correct supposed errors made by a lower court, but the petition was likewise junked.

The Sandiganbayan, on June 21, 2010, finally issued a resolution requiring Ecleo to surrender for execution of judgment but he did not comply and instead filed another petition for certiorari before the SC as well as a petition for the issuance of a temporary restraining order.

“The filing of the accused of the pending petition before the SC was an attempt to reopen an avenue of appeal which has long been foreclosed,” the Sandiganbayan said.

Sandiganbayan first division justices Efren de la Cruz, Rodolfo Ponferrada, and Rafael Lagos stressed that the High Court has already ruled against Ecleo’s claim that he lost his right to appeal because of the “gross negligence or procedural blunder of his former counsel.”

“As has been oft-repeated in jurisprudence, public policy and sound practice demand that, at the risk of occasional errors, judgment of courts must be at some point of time fixed by law become final, otherwise there will be no end to litigation, and that a petition for certiorari shall not interrupt the course of the principal case unless the public respondent is enjoined from further proceeding with the case. Notably, the petition of the accused seeking to restrain this court had been denied by the Honorable Supreme Court,” the magistrates said.

Last month, the Sandiganbayan issued arrest warrants against Ecleo, Navarra, and Santillano.

Ecleo, who is also the leader of religious sect Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA), was sentenced to 31 years in jail while Navarra and Santillano received 21-year jail terms. They have also been ordered to jointly indemnify the municipal government P2.86 million.

The three were found guilty of paying in full for the construction of a public market, a new municipal building and a guesthouse in San Jose, Surigao del Norte, which projects were never completed by the private contractor.