PH CULT LEADER AND WIFE KILLER ARRESTED, FINALLY
Ecleo tops the list of the Department of Interior's most wanted persons with a reward of P2 million for his arrest
AN elite unit of the Philippine National Police National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) arrested early this Thursday, July 30, 2020, a former religious cult leader in Mindanao convicted for corruption and for the cold-blooded murder of his wife.
At a press conference late today in Manila, NCRPO police director, P/MGen. Debold Sinas, presented Ruben Ecleo Jr., the erstwhile “Supreme Master” of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA), based in Dinagat Island, Caraga region.
Sinas said Ecleo, who has been in hiding for over 9 years now, was arrested together with his driver, Benjie Relacion Fernan, at a golf course in San Fernando City, Pampanga, by the Special Operations Group, Regional Intelligence Division, under P/Col. Remus Medina.
Ecleo, who also became mayor of San Jose, Dinagat Island and subsequently, a member of Congress, was using the name of ‘Manuel Riberal’ and has been living at Diamond Subdivision, Bgy. Balibago, Angeles City, in the last four years, Sinas added.
He also bared that their informant from Dinagat Island disclosed to them that after leaving the island, Ecleo first hide in Davao City for about two years before deciding to transfer to Luzon Island.
Ecleo was first convicted by the Sandiganbayan in 2006 for corruption over the anomalous construction projects that he initiated while mayor of San Jose between 1991 and 1994.
He was also accused of the killing of his wife, Alona Bacolod-Ecleo, in Cebu province in early 2002, and was finally convicted for the crime of parricide in 2012.
Efforts to arrest him for his wife’s death on June 18, 2002 proved bloody, with 16 of his followers and one policeman killed after they violently resisted his arrest.
Ecleo decided to go into hiding after the Sandiganbayan finally issued a warrant for his arrest, followed by another warrant from the Cebu Regional Trial Court for his wife’s murder.
Sinas said they also recovered a vehicle registered under yet another fake name of Ecleo, ‘Marcos Macapagal Garcia,’ P173,000 cash, three pistols and an M16 assault rifle.
He added that Ecleo has been under surveillance for at least six months prior to today’s arrest.
Sinas said Ecleo might still be charged for illegal possession of firearms if their verification disclosed these were not registered.
Fernan, on the other hand, would be initially charge for obstruction of justice for trying to prevent the arrest of Ecleo,
Ecleo is the most wanted person in the list of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) with a reward of P2 million for his arrest.
