MANILA – More than a week after he was brought back to the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) from a private hospital, former Dinagat Islands congressman and cult leader Ruben Ecleo Jr. died of cardiopulmonary arrest yesterday, the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) said.
Ecleo, who was serving a life term for killing his wife in 2002, died at the NBP Hospital at 12:20 p.m., the BuCor said in a statement.
On May 4, Ecleo was returned to the NBP in Muntinlupa City, three days after he was taken to the Dr. Sabili General Hospital in Taguig due to liver complications.
He stayed at the hospital for three days “due to some COVID-19 and pre-existing illnesses.”
The “supreme master” of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA) was arrested in Pampanga in July last year.
THE CRIME
Ecleo was convicted in April 2012 by the Cebu City regional trial court for three counts of graft and parricide — for killing his wife Alona Bacolod in their home in Sitio Banawa, Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City on Jan. 5, 2002.
Alona’s body was found inside a trash bag dumped in Cebu’s Dalaguete town.
On June 18, 2002, six months after Alona’s remains were found, police stormed Ecleo residence on Dinagat Islands resulting in a three-hour shootout with PBMA members that left 16 cult members and a policeman dead.
The court ordered Ecleo to pay P25 million in compensatory damages to his wife’s family.
Ecleo was also convicted of graft in 2006 for the anomalous construction of a public market and town hall, and repairs of his cult’s building in San Jose, Dinagat Islands when he was then mayor in the early 1990s. He was sentenced to 31 years in jail.
THE ARREST
Ecleo was arrested in San Fernando, Pampanga last year based on an arrest warrant issued by the 1st Division of Sandiganbayan in Quezon City for charges of graft and corruption and parricide.
His PBMA is a religious organization founded by his father Ruben Sr.
At that time, he was the Philippines’ No. 1 most wanted person listed by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), with a P2-million reward for his capture.
The warrants for his arrest were issued by the Sandiganbayan First Division in January 2011 and by the Cebu Regional Trial Court in April 2011. He had evaded capture for nine years.
The police received information from a police agent from Dinagat Islands that Ecleo had left seven years ago and was hiding in the National Capital Region.
Before the arrest, police operatives placed Ecleo’s residence in Angeles, Pampanga under surveillance for six months.
Also arrested was Ecleo’s driver, Benjie Relacion Fernan, for obstruction of justice.
THE REWARD
The lone tipster who provided information that led to the arrest of Ecleo got the P2-million reward.
The said informant came from the Dinagat Islands and proceeded to Manila and coordinated with police operatives of the NCR Police Office.
The police declined to say if the informant was a member of Ecleo’s PBMA.
At least four policemen also received meritorious promotion due to Ecleo’s successful arrest./PN
