Task force formed to arrest Ecleo

Camp Rafael Rodriguez, Libertad, Butuan City, Philippines – The Caraga police has formed a task force to arrest Dinagat Rep. Ruben Ecleo Jr. 

Caraga police regional director Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Rafal yesterday said Caraga deputy regional director for administration Chief Superintendent Isagani Genabe will head the task force.

Rafal said the task force was in response to the directive of Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Nicanor Bartolome for the immediate arrest of the lawmaker.

He appealed to the public to give information to the police for the arrest of Ecleo.

Regional Trial Court Branch 10 Presiding Judge Soliver Peras, found Ecleo guilty of parricide for killing his wife, Alona Bacolod Ecleo, more than 10 years ago.

The judge also ordered Ecleo to pay Bacolod’s family P26.3-million in damages.

 Justice Secretary Leila de Lima likewise directed the National Bureau of Investigation to help in the hunt for Ecleo, who has been in hiding since last year after the Sandiganbayan convicted him for three counts of graft over questionable infrastructure projects during his stint as mayor of San Jose town in Dinagat from 1991 to 1994.

Ecleo had been jailed at the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center from June 2002 until April 2004 after his bloody arrest in Dinagat Island.