Ruben Ecleo Jr., the elusive controversial cult leader who was convicted for killing his wife, was finally arrested after nine years in hiding in San Fernando City, Pampanga Thursday.
Police Major Gen. Debold Sinas, director of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), said NCRPO intelligence agents arrested Ecleo at around 4:30 a.m.
“We received information from our agent from the Dinagat Island that Ruben Ecleo had left Dinagat Island six years ago. And accordingly, he was in NCR (National Capital Region) so the informant came from the Dinagat Island and proceeded to Manila and coordinated with our operatives and gave us an idea where Ecleo was hiding,” said Sinas.
Sinas said surveillance was conducted in various areas in Metro Manila until they obtained credible information that he was staying in Angeles City and was using a fictitious name – Marcos Macapagal Garcia. It took them six months before they finally tracked down Ecleo.
After confirming the information, NCRPO police intelligence operatives finally chanced upon Ecleo near a golf course in San Fernando City.
Seized from Ecleo were a white van registered to his alias, a golf set, fake identification cards, three cellular phones, sets of jewelry, and more or less ₱173,000 cash.
After his arrest, Ecleo also surrendered three handguns and an M16 rifle.
Ecleo was arrested with his trusted man and driver Benjie Fernan who was collared for harboring a fugitive and obstruction of justice.
“We are now checking if all the firearms were licensed. If not, we could file charges against him,” said Sinas.
Ecleo was arrested using the arrest warrant issued by the Sandiganbayan which convicted him of graft charges. He and Fernan were taken to the NCRPO headquarters in Taguig City where they were immediately subjected to medical examination.
Ecleo was the "supreme leader" of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA) which was founded by his father in 1965. Ecleo Jr. took over in 1987 after the death of his father.
In 2002, at least 23 members of the PBMA were killed after they tried to fight policemen serving an arrest warrant against Ecleo Jr. in Dinagat Island in connection with the murder of his wife Alona.
The PBMA members tried to attack the policemen using their bolos, believing that they were invincible due to the amulets they were carrying.
Ecleo Jr. reportedly strangled Alona in their house in Cebu City before her body was dumped.
Alona’s siblings and parents were brutally killed in June, 2002, in what authorities believe as an attempt to silence them as her brother, who was killed in the gun attack in their house, was the lone witness. Ecleo was arrested but was allowed to post bail.
However, he jumped bail in 2011 and went into hiding since then. He was convicted of parricide in April, 2012 and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was ordered by the court to pay more than ₱25 million in damages.
Following his conviction, he was dropped from the rolls of the House of Representatives as congressman of Dinagat Island.
Since he continued to hide, then President Benigno S. Aquino III offered ₱2 million for any information that could lead to his capture.
Prior to his conviction for parricide, Ecleo was also found guilty of graft charges in 2006 for illegal disbursement of funds involving three construction projects when he was still the mayor of San Jose, in Surigao del Norte from 1991 to 1994. He was sentenced to 31 years in jail.
Ecleo was convicted along with former municipal planning and development coordinator Anadelia Navarra and private contractor Ricardo Santillano of PBMA Builders in the P4-million construction of a public market.
Navarra and Santillano were found guilty of two counts of graft and were sentenced to 12 to 21 years imprisonment each.
State auditors found out the value of the finished portion of the market was only ₱3.56 million.
State auditors likewise questioned the payment of ₱3.85 million to PBMA Builders for a new municipal building when the contract price was only ₱3.68 million.
Only 37.38 percent or ₱1.44 million in value of the new building was finished.
Ecleo also released ₱300,000 for the repair of a building owned by the PBMA Women’s League, a private group.
Ecleo claimed that the money given to PBMA Women's League was used for the maintenance of the municipal government's guest house.
Ecleo, during a press briefing, said he was forced to go in hiding for fear of being jailed.
“It is better this way because I will no longer hide. I’m so tired of it already,” said Ecleo. (With a report from Czarina Nicole Ong Ki)