Detained ex-mayor and parricide suspect Ruben Ecleo Jr. was dealt a double blow: he tested positive for illegal drugs and was ordered transferred to Cebu Friday.
Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Director Nestorio Gualberto announced Thursday that traces of shabu were found in Ecleo’s system, a day after the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA) supreme master surrendered to authorities.
Since traces of the drug stay in one’s system for up to 72 hours, the results indicate Ecleo was on drugs when the police came to arrest him Tuesday night.
Worse, the Police Regional Office (PRO) 13 headed by Chief Supt. Alberto Olario will also file murder, frustrated murder and illegal possession of firearms charges against Ecleo and his armed “White Eagles” after Tuesday night’s gunfight in San Jose, Dinagat Island, Surigao del Norte.
But Ecleo said over ABS-CBN Manila, “May hangganan din ang lahat na ito.” (There’s an end to all this.)
In Manila, hot melted wax was poured over Ecleo’s hands Thursday as part of a test to find out whether he recently fired a gun. Police officials claim he brandished an Uzi while taunting lawmen who arrived to arrest him in Dinagat last Tuesday.
At least 16 PBMA members and one policeman died in that night’s gunbattle, which lasted four hours.
An ABS-CBN Manila report showed the coffins neatly lined up in the divine master’s shrine in San Jose, as well as PBMA members digging up the graves of their fallen colleagues.
Ecleo’s bodyguard Juryven Padero, who was also charged with the murder of Ecleo’s wife Alona, was among those killed.
So was another White Eagle who turned out to be a former member of the elite Army Scout Rangers, Jojo Rivera, said Supt. Ricky Nerbes, Surigao del Norte Provincial Police Office chief.
Ecleo’s mother, Rep. Glenda Ecleo, said she could not even recognize some of the casualties, as the PBMA’s members arrived from far-flung chapters and volunteered to defend their master.
Not in Cebu
She said she did not know where they got their guns. (Director Olario has ordered an investigation on how the cult’s members obtained their high-powered weapons, including Armalites.)
In a radio interview, the congresswoman said her son had been planning to surrender but PBMA officials did not want him to.
She also denied any hand in the slaughter of four of her son’s in-laws last Tuesday in Cebu City, saying the Bacolods must have had enemies.
She said it would be best if her son is detained and tried in Manila, citing that Cebu’s public has grown “too hostile” to the Ecleos.
But while the congresswoman and PBMA members insist on Ecleo’s innocence, Director Olario painted a different picture.
“I saw him holding a gun, while his bodyguards around him were armed with high-caliber weapons. Instead of surrendering, they let loose a hail of bullets,” recalled Olario, who led the team that tried to serve the arrest warrant at Ecleo’s hilltop mansion in San Jose.
A sniper’s bullet that nearly hit Olario began the exchange of gunfire.
Eagles land
On Thursday, however, Olario was confident the PBMA’s White Eagles were “neutralized” following the surrender of Ecleo and at least 80 PBMA members who tried to hold off the arresting officers.
The PBMA’s armed men are now under custodial investigation in San Jose, in preparation for the filing of criminal charges against them.
“If they fired guns they will be charged, because of the slain policeman,” Olario said.
Olario also reported police seized at least 10 firearms from the commune, and “clearing operations” are continuing to hunt down armed members who could have escaped.
To maintain order, operatives of the provincial PNP Mobile Group are still on standby in the island town.
Olario also downplayed reports that “suicide groups” of the PBMA are meeting in Cebu to try to rescue Ecleo, who will be transferred today to the Cebu City jail. With MBG and AFP reports