3 brothers of Ecleo’s slain wife appeal conviction of ‘accessory’

CEBU — The three brothers of the slain wife of cult leader Ruben Ecleo have petitioned the Regional Trial Court in Barili town to reconsider its conviction of her self-confessed killer.

In their motion, Angelito, Ricky and Josebil Bacolod argued that the RTC in Barili does not have jurisdiction over the case.

The case, they said, should have been filed in an Argao court that has jurisdiction over Dalaguete town where the body of their sister, Alona, stuffed in a garbage bag was found in a ravine.

They added that the parricide case against Ecleo is pending with the Cebu RTC.

Last May 7, RTC-Barili Judge Ildefonso Suerte convicted Cedric Divinadera not for murder, as he was earlier indicted for, but only as an accessory in the killing.

Divinadera entered into a plea bargaining agreement with the prosecution and got a jail term of four to eight years.

The Bacolod brothers argued that the plea bargaining agreement was null and void because, in the first place, they were not informed of Divinadera’s case, being the immediate family of the victim.

They also asked the court to allow them to intervene in the case.

As this developed, the National Bureau of Investigation is set to start its probe on why and how Divinadera was charged, saying that nobody knew about the case until Suerte convicted him.

The NBI also urged the Ombudsman to conduct a parallel investigation into the matter, questioning how the provincial prosecutor’s office conducted a preliminary probe on the case when Divinadera was neither called to answer the charges nor informed that the case was elevated to the court.

Throughout this period, Divinadera was under NBI custody and only went on a furlough allegedly to spend the Holy Week with his mother.

He never returned though and merely sent the NBI a letter, telling them of his return to General Santos City.

NBI regional director Reynaldo Esmeralda said the bureau will look into the possible liability of both the public and private lawyers who took part in the case leading to Divinadera’s conviction.

Cebu City prosecution chief Cesar Tajanlangit approved the recommendation of assistant regional state prosecutor Vicente Mañalac to file the case against Divinadera last March 3.

Arbet Sta. Ana-Yongco, the private prosecutor handling the case against Ecleo, claimed that the plea bargaining agreement Divinadera entered into with the prosecution was defective due to the absence of the prosecutor’s consent in the court’s transcripts. — Freeman News Service