58 cops in Ecleo’s bloody arrest promoted

SURIGAO CITY — Finally, 58 policemen who figured in the arrest of cult leader Ruben Ecleo Jr. in June 2002, where 16 of his armed followers were killed, were promoted a rank higher.

This, after a long evaluation by a 10-man group of the Philippine National Police’s Special Promotions Award and Decoration Board on who among the 200 lawmen who swooped down on Ecleo’s haven in San Jose, Surigao del Norte deserved the promotion.

On the morning of June 19, 2002, Ecleo was arrested after a bloody siege on Dinagat Island by a police contingent led by Caraga police director Alberto Rama Olario.

Nineteen people were killed in the raid, 16 of them members of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA), of which Ecleo is the supreme leader.

Ecleo’s arrest came four months after he was indicted for the killing of his wife, Alona Bacolod, in Cebu. He is now locked up in Cebu City on parricide charges.

Some 50 PBMA armed members were also arrested during the siege. Seized from them were 13 shotguns, three M-16 Armalite rifles whose serial numbers showed they were government property, an Ingram automatic rifle, a M79 rifle, two caliber .38 pistols, two M1 Garand rifles, hand grenades and knives.

The night before Ecleo was arrested, seven relatives and neighbors of his slain wife were massacred in Cebu City by suspected PBMA members.

Members of a police team from Cebu City who earlier went to Dinagat to arrest Ecleo but left after failing to serve a court-issued warrant for the PBMA head, were reportedly not among the 58 lawmen who were promoted.

Despite his being behind bars, Ecleo is running for mayor of San Jose town again in the May 10 elections.