Bounty for arrest of Ruben Ecleo increased to P450,000

Ruben Ecleo (inset) and the family of his slain wife

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InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

CEBU CITY, Philippines - The bounty for the arrest of convicted cult leader and Dinagat Island Rep. Ruben Ecleo Jr. is now pegged at P450,000 after the Philippine National Police (PNP) announced that they added P300,000 to the P150,000 initially offered for his capture.

“We are happy with the development. That (bounty) will encourage the people to inform the police,” said lawyer Fritz Quinanola, one of the private prosecutors handling the parricide case filed against Ecleo by the family of his wife Alona Bacolod-Ecleo.

But if he would have his way, Quinanola said, he wants the cash reward to be set at P1 million and given to anyone who can provide information on the whereabouts of Ecleo, who was convicted of parricide last month by a court in Cebu City for the killing of his wife Alona.

Alona’s brother, Nino Bacolod, said they welcome the PNP’s move.

A police task force has been created in northeastern Mindanao to track down Ecleo.

Cebu Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 10 Presiding Judge Soliver Peras sentenced Ecleo to spend 20-40 years in jail and ordered him to pay Alona’s family at least P26.3 million in damages.

Ecleo, supreme leader of the Christian cult Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association, is included in the country’s “A-1” list of high profile fugitives from the law, said Justice Secretary Leila de Lima in an earlier report.

The most wanted list also includes retired major-general and party-list Rep. Jovito Palparan and former Palawan governor Joel Reyes.

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