NBI joins manhunt for convicted lawmaker Ecleo
MANILA, Philippines—Justice Secretary Leila De Lima on Monday said she had ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to join the manhunt for Dinagat Island Representative Ruben Ecleo Jr. following his conviction over the death of his wife 10 years ago.
“I have a directive that when it comes to high-profile cases, the NBI will help the Philippine National Police,” De Lima said. The NBI is an attached agency of the Department of Justice.
De Lima said the PNP will remain as the lead agency.
On Friday, a Cebu City Court found Ecleo guilty of parricide for the death of his wife, Alona, in their Cebu City home in 2002.
Judge Soliver Peras sentenced Ecleo to reclusion perpetua (20 years and one day to 40 years in prison) and ordered him to pay his wife’s heirs P25 million in compensatory damages, P200,000 in moral damages, P200,000 in exemplary damages, P200,000 attorney’s fees and P50,000 in temperate damages.
Ecleo, the “supreme master” of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association has stopped attending his wife’s hearing after he was convicted for graft by the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan in 2006.
