Surrender deadline expires, still no Ecleo; action urged

THE deadline for Ruben Ecleo Jr.’s surrender ended yesterday.

Despite the offer of a  P150,000 cash reward, police were unable to arrest him.

Prosecution lawyer Fritz Quiñanola, a former police general, said police  forces across the country should track down and  arrest Ecleo instead of waiting for informants  to reveal his whereabouts.

He said the reward money from the Philippine National Police only reflects the difficulty they have in doing their job.

“Money can energize the moptivations of people. Many people are passive. But with the reward money, passivity is gone,” he said.

Prosecutors earlier told the court that Ecleo has until April 28 to surrender or the conviction of his parricide case would be deemed final and executory.

Ecleo, congressman of the lone district of Dinagat Island in Surigao del Norte,  had 15 days to seek an appeal of the April 13 court decision that found him guilty of killing his wife Alona ten years ago in Cebu City.

Quiñanola served as PNP regional director in  region 13 (Caraga) from 1998 to 2001. Dinagat Island which houses Ecleo’s Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA) is in Caraga region.

He said the reward money is intended to motivate the public, not the policemen.

“If they can’t arrest Ecleo, the credibility and effectivity of the PNP will suffer,” he said.

Although the P150,000 as reward is “quite small,” Quiñanola said it would somehow affect Ecleo psychologically.

He said he hopes the police can raise the reward money to further entice more people to locate Ecleo.

“Many people know where Ecleo is. However, no one dare to squeal because they don’t have the motivation and that they think they will just encounter problems in the process,” he said.

Quiñanola said the person who can help police find Ecleo will walk away with the reward money while keeping his or her identity anonymous.

Outside of this, he said he hopes some PBMA members betray Ecleo over to the police.

Lawyer Kit Enriquez, one of the private prosecutors in the parricide case against Ecleo, said P150,000 can easily be matched by Ecleo.

Aside from parricide, Ecleo was convicted of graft charges by the Sandiganbayan.

Ecleo was convicted for misappropriating funds during his tenure as Dinagat mayor.

Ecleo was previously arrested after a gun battle between police and his followers in Dinagat Island, Surigao del Norte in 2002.

Ecleo was convicted for the murder of his wife Alona whose brother Ben, her parents, her sister Evelyn and a neighbor were killed by a PBMA follower.