Ecleo case: A trail of unsolved murders!

The evil of shabu, which was exposed when that Shabu Mega Lab was raided in Bo. Omapad, Mandaue City a couple of weeks ago, continues to plague Cebu. Last Friday, Cebu Daily News (CDN) came up with a headline allegedly quoting Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales for saying that the Ouano family owned one of the buildings that were raided as a shabu factory. For saying these things, Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo Ouano threatened the DOJ Secretary and CDN with a P100-libel suit unless an apology is made.

In response to that threat, DOJ Secretary Gonzales countered that he would not apologize believing that he was misquoted. Sec. Gonzales said, "Why should I apologize for things I have not done?"

Perhaps to show good faith, Sec. Gonzales offered to be a witness in the libel case that the Ouano family would file against CDN. In support of this, no less than National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Regional Director Reynaldo Esmeralda was reported by The Freeman to have been shocked and surprised by the CDN report as they haven’t found a shred of evidence linking Ouano to the shabu operations.

Clearly, the mess that shabu has created will result in many lawsuits, including a libel suit against CDN. But while we’re still in the middle of this mess... last Monday morning, as I was driving to the office, all the AM radios were airing a breaking news... the assassination of lady lawyer Atty. Arbet Yongco who handles the celebrated case the Bacolod family lodged vs Ruben Ecleo, the supreme master of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA) by unknown gunmen who entered her office in Alcohol St. in Bo. Zapatera, Cebu City and pumped three bullets into her head and one on the chest. She was declared dead at 9 a.m. on Oct. 11.

Since I was close to the crime scene, I stopped by and met all the Cebu media beat reporters awaiting initial investigation of the Criminal Investigation Division Group (CIDG) of Cebu City. Just a couple of weeks ago, about 200 meters from Yongco’s office along Echavez St. Bo. Lorega, another drug related crime took place when a drug dealer with his girlfriend was shot and killed inside his car also by motorcycle riding killers. No doubt, the spread of illegal drugs has resulted in more evil and a very ugly trail of bloody murder in Cebu, which has now spanned for two long years.

Just to refresh you on this story, on January 2002, Alona Bacolod Ecleo was murdered and her body was found in the town of Dalaguete, 70 kilometers south of Cebu City. The principal suspect was her husband, Ruben Ecleo, who incidentally didn’t report her disappearance. And when her body was found, he didn’t bother to go to the south to claim her body... nor did he care to show up for her burial. These are actions that led the powerful Ecleo to be arrested months later... but not after intense media scrutiny and exposure here in Cebu. Of course, Ecleo’s surrender in Dinagat Island, Surigao resulted in the deaths of a couple of policemen and 18 members of his PBMA as he didn’t give up immediately. Those deaths alone should be directly blamed on Ecleo... but apparently these people died in vain.

While he was interned at the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC) Ruben Ecleo showed only contempt for authority and virtually used the power of his money through the help of corrupt officials to lord around the Cebu City Jail. He was even found by the Cebu media to be with his girlfriend inside his bed in a special cell. He could only do so with the help of corrupt jail guards. Having a girlfriend so soon also gives some proof that he was estranged from his wife.

Then on June 18, 2002 almost the entire Bacolod family, the father, mother and brother of Alona were massacred in Mandaue City by an assailant who was later killed by responding policemen. It turned out that the killer was also a PBMA member. To date, we can only speculate who was behind the killer. That’s the easiest thing to do...a simple one plus one equals Ecleo!

The next evil to swirl around the Ecleo case was the corrupt judiciary. Out of the blue last May, we learned about the highly questionable conviction of a certain Cedrick Devinadera, (the alleged self-confessed killer of Alona Bacolod) by Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Ildefonso Suerte of Barili. The implication of this decision by Judge Suerte is a no-brainer. After all, it isn’t everyday someone would go out and confess to killing a person... especially in a celebrated murder like that of Alona Bacolod’s. To add to the drama, Ecleo was freed for humanitarian reasons.

We originally thought that Judge Suerte made his decision based on that confession. But things started to clear up when Devinadera’s story couldn’t be validated because he pinpointed to Ben Bacolod as the mastermind of the killing his own sister without any motive...and since he was also murdered on June 18,2002, Devinadera’s confession could no longer be corroborated. Only when the parents of Devinadera insisted that their son was "coerced" into making this confession, including the revelation by his brother that Cedrick was a PBMA member, did we suspect that all this maybe a part of larger sinister plot to spare PBMA Supreme leader Ruben Ecleo Jr. from a possible jail term by hook or by a crooked Judge!

Of course, now Judge Suerte has been suspended by the Supreme Court for ignorance of the law... but is it really ignorance of the law or worse? What about obstruction of justice? To add to the drama, we learned that the Supreme Court issued on March 3, 2004, Administrative Order (AO) no.36-004 relieving Judge Ildefonso Suerte from handling newly-filed cases, both criminal and administrative in Branch 60 of Barili and designating Lapu-Lapu City Judge Leopoldo Canete as assisting judge of Branch 60. This order was signed by SC Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. and was received by the Clerk of Court on ides of March. So why did Judge Suerte convict Devinadera last May 7, 2004? One plus one equals... well, you know the answer to that!

So now, Cebu City police, just like their counterparts in Mandaue City, are in a quandary as to who had assassinated Atty. Arbet Yongco. Again, this is elementary my dear Watson... simple addition. At this point, the patience of Cebuanos is almost totally exhausted. When will our authorities get its act together and bring back Ecleo in jail as the killing hasn’t stopped while his case is being tried. As for the poor Atty. Yongco, we mourn her loss with her bereaved family. She defended women’s rights in many pro-bono cases and a member of Lihok Filipina and the legal counsel of the Crusade Against Violence (CAV). Rarely do we see people like her, who defend the powerless and was not scared to fight the rich and the powerful. I wish that she didn’t die in vain!

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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com. He also hosts a weekly talkshow entitled, "Straight from the Sky" shown every Monday only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 on SkyCable at 8:00 in the evening.