For the second time, the Court of Appeals (CA) junked the petition of cult leader and former Dinagat congressman Ruben Ecleo Jr. to overturn his conviction for parricide.
In a resolution, Executive Justice Gabriel Ingles of the CA Cebu Station, said Ecleo’s latest motion for reconsideration did not present new arguments that would warrant a reversal of earlier rulings.
Ecleo’s camp questioned the validity of the April 2012 promulgation where Ecleo was not present.
But the appellate court said the promulgation was valid and that Ecleo was not deprived of due process when the verdict was read without him.
“It bears stressing that petitioner (Ecleo) jumped bail and could no longer be found, hence, he is considered to have waived his right to be present at the trial, and he is deemed to have received the notice of promulgation,” Ingles explained.
Associate Justices Marilyn Lagura-Yap and Ma. Luisa Padilla concurred with the resolution.
Ecleo, congressman of the lone district of Dinagat Islands in Surigao del Norte and the supreme master of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA), has been a fugitive since an arrest warrant was issued against him in 2011 after he skipped three hearings before the Cebu City trial court.
A nationwide manhunt for Ecleo is ongoing. In August 2012, President Benigno Aquino III offered a P2 million reward to anyone who could give information that can lead to Ecleo’s arrest.
In April 2012, Judge Soliver Peras of the Regional Trial Court Branch 10 found Ecleo guilty of parricide for killing his wife Alona in their residence in Forest Hills, Guadalupe, Cebu City on Jan. 5, 2002.
Ecleo was sentenced to at least 30 years imprisonment and was ordered to pay the heirs of his wife P25.65 million in damages and attorney’s fees.
His lawyers said the decision was “invalid” since Ecleo was not notified about the date of the promulgation and that the notice sent to his counsel was not sufficient.
But Justice Ingles said notices were sent to Ecleo’s last known address.
Based on a long line of decisions of the Supreme Court, the high court has consistently ruled that once an accused jumps bail, he loses his standing in court. Unless he surrenders or submits to the jurisdiction of the court, the accused is deemed to have waived any right to seek relief from the court, Justice Ingles said.
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