POSTERS of Ruben Ecleo Jr. with the label “Wanted” were posted yesterday on the walls of different police stations in Cebu City as the search for Ecleo continues.
Cebu City Police Chief Melvin Buenafe said the posters would help the public to recall Ecleo’s face easily if they would see him.
Ecleo, supreme master of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA), remains at large after he didn’t heed yesterday’s deadline to surrender, which is 15 days after he was convicted for killing his wife Alona Bacolod-Ecleo last Jan. 5, 2002.
Prosecutor Fritz Quinanola said since Ecleo didn’t surrender yesterday then his conviction last April 13 of parricide would be considered final and executory.
Although Ecleo’s lawyers had filed a Notice to Appeal before the trial court last Friday, Quiñanola said the pleading was “improper.”
“The Supreme Court ruled that a Notice to Appeal a conviction which carries a penalty of reclusion perpetua must be filed before the Court of Appeals,” Quiñanola said.
Ecleo was sentenced to reclusion perpetua (from 20 years to 40 years imprisonment). He was also ordered to pay Alona’s siblings P26.3 million in damages. /Correspondent Chito O. Aragon with Reporter Ador Vincent S. Mayol