THE prosecution team suggested that the new judge handling the Ecleo parricide case make an ocular inspection of the house of accused congressman Ruben Ecleo Jr. in, barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City.
In yesterday’s hearing, RTC Judge Soliver Peras of Branch 10 said he was willing to do so.
Peras is the seventh judge handling the nine-year-old case.
In 2003, RTC Judge Generosa Labra of Branch 23 visited the site.
Prosecution lawyer Alfredo Sipalay said it would be better if the current judge would take a look at the place where Alona Bacolod was allegedly killed on Jan. 5, 2002.
In yesterday’s resumption of hearing, prosecutors tried to to prove that Ecleo had lied in previous hearings when he said there were visitors in the house on the night of the murder.
But Alona’s brother Josebil, who took the witness stand, said the only people in the house that day was himself, the Ecleo couple, Ecleo’s bodyguard and their house helper.
Although he didn’t see the killing, Josebil said he heard a thud and cries of his sister pleading for help.
Ecleo, the supreme master of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association, wasn’t present during the hearing.
He is facing arrest in relation to his conviction on three counts of graft for overpricing construction supplies during his stint as mayor of San Jose, Dinagat Island in Surigao del Norte, from 1991 to 1994.
The Cebu City court also canceled Ecleo’s P1-million bail in the parricide case after he failed to attend several hearings./REPORTER ADOR VINCENT S. MAYOL