Men in car stalk UP prof

CEBU — Dr. Raquel Fortun, one of the country’s foremost forensic pathologists and a prosecution witness in the parricide case against cult leader Ruben Ecleo Jr., expressed alarm over what she perceived to be threats to her life.

Emerging from Thursday’s hearing, where Ecleo, supreme master of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA), is on trial in connection with the killing of his wife, Alona Bacolod, Fortun confirmed reports that unidentified men on board an unlicensed red car had made passes at the house where she had been staying.

"Yes, that is true. And I am afraid. Who would not? But I suppose this is part of the risks of my job," the University of the Philippines professor told reporters.

Fortun, however, declined to reveal what security preparations she has undertaken.

"As to whether I have a security (escort) with me right now, that is a secret," she said.

Fortun, the 19th prosecution witness to take the stand, also declined to say if she suspects the men she saw stalking her could have any ties with Ecleo.

Orlando Salatandre, Ecleo’s lead counsel, denied that his client was involved in any way with the threats perceived by Fortun.

"Never in our mind have we conceived the idea of threatening Dr. Fortun. In fact, her testimony is helping us a lot," Salatandre said.

Fortun, who conducted a re-autopsy on Bacolod’s body after Regional Trial Court Judge Geraldine Faith Econg ordered it exhumed, testified that she noted similarities between the body and the physical descriptions provided by Bacolod’s siblings.

Salatandre said Fortun’s testimony bolstered the contention of the defense that the body exhumed was not Bacolod’s.

Salatandre had tried to block Fortun’s testimony, but when the forensic pathologist said she noted only similarities and did not expressly say that the body was Bacolod’s, the defense attorney said he would no longer proceed to question the re-autopsy with the Supreme Court as he had threatened.

"She is not certain as to the identity of the body. So we find that there is no more need to file any motion (with) the High Court," he said.

In her testimony, Fortun also sustained the findings from the first autopsy of medico-legal officer Dr. Nestor Sator that Bacolod died of asphyxia by strangulation.

Bacolod’s body was found in a black garbage bag dumped in a ravine in Dalaguete town three years ago, and suspicion immediately fell on Ecleo who, instead of looking for his missing wife, went home to the PBMA enclave in San Jose, Dinagat, Surigao del Norte.

At the time of her death, Bacolod was finishing her senior year as a medical student in a local university and she and Ecleo stayed in their own house in Banawa.

To effect the arrest of Ecleo, who was surrounded by hordes of armed bodyguards, the police, with military support, sent in a team of more than 200 men backed by armored personnel carriers to storm the enclave.

Ecleo surrendered in the face of the superior might of the government forces, but not before more than 20 of his men were killed in the assault.

On the same night that he was arrested, almost the entire family of Bacolod, including her father and mother, was massacred at home in Mandaue City by a lone PBMA member who was himself killed later by pursuing policemen.

Another PBMA member, Michel Favila, is the primary suspect in the killing of Cebu lawyer Arbet Sta. Ana Yongco, one of the private prosecutors in the parricide case against Ecleo.

Three other PBMA members have been implicated in the Yongco slaying, including a certain Nestor Carrol, whose picture often appeared in newspapers, apparently acting as close-in bodyguard of Rep. Glenda Ecleo, the cult leader’s mother, during the early days of the trial.

Carrol was one of eight PBMA members arrested at a checkpoint in Lapu-Lapu City last December. The group’s van yielded several high-powered firearms.

At the time of their arrest, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña expressed suspicion that he could have been the group’s target for publicly accusing Ecleo of having masterminded Yongco’s killing.

Ecleo, who is out on P1-million bail, has denied any involvement in all of these cases. — Freeman News Service