Despite rift, Osmeña grants IBP request

CEBU CITY — Mayor Tomas Osmeña temporarily set aside his rift with the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Cebu City chapter as he expressed willingness to grant its request for P50,000 financial aid for the exhumation of the remains of Ruben Ecleo Jr.’s wife on Monday.

"If it’s necessary, why not? I mean I only hit them when they are doing the wrong thing, but if they are doing the right thing, I am willing to support them," Osmeña told The Freeman.

He said he may have been hard on the IBP in the past "due to cracks in the justice system" that contribute to the rising criminality in the city, prompting him to create an elite police group called the Crime Suppression Team tasked "to seek and destroy criminals."

This, however, drew flak from various sectors, including the IBP.

Yet Osmeña said IBP’s request transcends disagreement, adding that the city will extend financial assistance if it means bringing justice to the aggrieved party.

The court has granted the IBP’s motion to have the remains of Ecleo’s wife, Alona Bacolod, exhumed to have her DNA samples compared to that of her surviving brothers to establish the identity of the body buried at the Cebu South Cemetery.

However, the IBP needs at least P50,000 for the pathologist’s airfare and for other expenditures to complete the procedure.

In the past, Osmeña had aired statements critical of Ecleo, supreme master of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association, for the latter’s "undesirable doings" in the Cebu community, specifically his "using the PBMA to (foster) criminal activity."

Ecleo is being tried for his wife’s murder three years ago. – Freeman News Service