Ecleo still in country —lawyer

CULT leader Ruben Ecleo Jr. is still in the Philippines.

Ecleo’s lawyer, Orlando Salatandre, assured Regional Trial Court Judge Solivera Peras of Branch 10 that his client was still in the country.

“If he has any intention to leave the country, he should have done it a long time ago,” Salatandre said during yesterday’s hearing.

He, however, said he didn’t know where Ecleo was in the country.

He said he continued to communicate with Ecleo through text messages but he hadn’t met Ecleo yet since he failed to attend the hearings.

“We just talk about updates on the case,” he said.

The court yesterday held a hearing to discuss two pleadings filed by Ecleo’s lawyers.

Salatandre, who represents Ecleo in the parricide case against the cult leader in Cebu City, is asking for some changes in the transcript of records.

Ecleo’s lawyer for a graft case before the Sandiganbayan is seeking the release of the Ecleo’s medical records.

Ecleo, the supreme master of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA), faces parricide charges for allegedly killing his wife, Alona, on Jan. 5, 2002.

In 2004, the court allowed Ecleo to post a P1-million bail so he could undergo treatment for his heart ailment.

Last year, Judge Peras canceled the bail after Ecleo failed to attend three hearings in a row.

The court set the promulgation on Ecleo’s parricide case on Feb. 10.

Prosecution lawyer Kit Enriquez said they would file to the court their memorandum on the case next week.

An arrest warrant was also issued against Ecleo, now congressman of the lone district of Dinagat Islands in Surigao del Norte.

The Sandiganbayan found him guilty of overpricing construction supplies when he was San Jose town mayor. Ecleo is contesting the ruling before the Supreme Court. ADOR VINCENT S. MAYOL