Lawyer Noel Archival was among the prominent lawyers in Cebu having handled a number of controversial cases including drugs, abuses and car smuggling.
He has been a lawyer for 22 years.
Cult leader Ruben Ecleo Jr. who was convicted of parricide in relation to the death of his wife, Alona Bacolod-Ecleo 12 years ago enlisted Archival’s services in November 2012 in connection with his appeal to reverse his conviction.
Archival joined former Justice Secretary Silvestre Bello III, Lucas Carpio Jr. and Jose Ventura-Aspiras as Ecleo’s defense counsels.
In April 2012, Ecleo, the supreme master of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association, was sentenced to reclusion perpetua or 20 to 40 years imprisonment and ordered to pay fines and damages worth P26.3 million. Ecleo has a P3-million bounty on his head.
Ironically, Archival was ambushed with his three aides yesterday near the site where Alona was found dumped and stuffed in a trash bag in January 2002.
Another sensational case that Archival handled was the rape case filed by a 21-year-old woman who claimed she was sexually abused by a marshal of the justice department’s Witness Protection Program (WPP).
Archival defended accused Romelo Pabroa but the complaint did not prosper as the case was dismissed at the prosecutor’s level.
Archival was also the defense counsel of suspect car smuggler, Jovel Tan Entote, who was tagged as the ‘godfather of car theft syndicates’.
Police nabbed Entote in a bar in Cogon-Ramos for allegedly selling stolen cars but the complaint did not prosper as the fiscal dropped it.
Archival also defended Councilor Gerry Carillo when the legislator was accused of hitting the head of a 16-year-old boy using a rock during a brawl in bar on Pelaez St., Cebu City in July last year.
Victim Joseph Niño Pogoy, a resident of Barangay Ermita and son of a former policeman, had to undergo a surgery and stayed in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.
The case was amicably settled.
Yesterday, Archival came from a hearing of a robbery case at the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 38 in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental when his Ford Escape SUV was shot several times by unidentified persons on board two Toyota Hilux vehicles. /with reports from Ador Vincent Mayol, Michelle Joy L. Padayhag, Jhunnex Napallacan, Carine M. Asutilla, Edison M. Delos Angeles
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