Bacolods to DOJ: Restore witness protection

“SECURE us.”

This was the plea of 34-year-old Angelito Bacolod after the Department of Justice (DOJ) dropped him, two of his siblings, and two other witnesses in the Ecleo parricide case from the government’s witness protection program.

Angelito told Cebu Daily News there are times when he could hardly sleep since they were moved out of the Witness Protection Security and Benefit Program WPSBP) early this month.

“I keep on thinking  what could happen to us. I hope they would extend our stay with DOJ,” Angelito said in an interview before the start of the court hearing last Friday.

Angelito, his elder brother Ricky, and their youngest sister Clea  presently live in private homes after they were released from the DOJ safe house.

“I don’t let down my guard. I have to be ready for anything everytime I go out of our house. Sometimes, I’m afraid but I’d rather not think about it,” he said.

Angelito works  as a warehouse assistant. He had to make adjustments in the family’s finances.

Angelito said the DOJ used to shoulder all their expenses and grant them allowances.

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Cebu City chapter asked the DOJ to reconsider.

“The members of the IBP private prosecution panel have expressed that the case is of extraordinary character and that the accused is a powerful and influential person,” the IBO said in a resolution.

The IBP recounted the shootout between the police and supporters of the accused in June 2002.

Twenty-three persons were  killed before the police arrested Ecleo in Dinagat Islands, Surigao del Norte.

Two of the Bacolod siblings, Ben and Evelyn and parents Rosalia and Elpedio, were shot dead at home in Mandaue City in 2002.

A PBMA member was the main suspect behind the killings, but no charges were filed since the suspect was later killed in a shootout with police.

The killings were reportedly  intended to scare off other family members from pursuing the case against Ecleo, who is supreme master of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association.

Ecleo was accused of killing his wife Alona inside their residence in Guadalupe, Cebu City on Jan. 5, 2002.

Of the Bacolod siblings, only Josebil remains under the custody of the DOJ.

Josebil is  testifying for  the prosecution as its rebuttal witness. /Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol