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IT WAS over in less than 15 minutes.
This time, Judge Soliver Peras of the Cebu Regional Trial Court (RTC) allowed news reporters to cover the hearing of the seven-year parricide case against cult leader Ruben Ecleo, Jr.
Peras received the prosecution?s request for the judge to reconsider his earlier decision to inhibit himself from handling the criminal case.
Peras has yet to give his final decision on the matter.
The local media, which earlier raised a furor over being barred access to a bail hearing last month, witnessed the brief but uneventful exchange last Friday.
Marshals of the witness protection program of the Department of Justice (DOJ) who stood outside the courtroom allowed reporters to enter the room.
Judge Peras was supposed to hear arguments of both the prosecution and defense lawyers on his role as the seventh judge to handle the case, which which has dragged on for seven years.
The judge warned Adrian Tadena, chief of the witness protection program, not to let DOJ marshals stand guard outside the courtroom.
Instead of manning the entrance door, they should be focusing on their job of securing witnesses, he said.
Defense lawyer Orlando Salatandre failed to submit his own motion within the period required by the court.
The judge, who earlier denied giving instructions to bar the media, was criticized by news reporters covering the Palace of Justice for his court order to have new security rules in place for the Ecleo hearing.
He required a SWAT police team present and said those who would attend, including reporters, should pre-register their names and submit 1x1 photos to cross-match with photo identification cards to be submitted beforehand to the court.
Josebil Bacolod, one of the siblings of the victim, Alona Ecleo, attended the proceedings accompanied by members of the Crusade Against Violence and prosecution lawyers Democrito Barcenas, Kit Enriquez, Alfredo Sipalay, and Gina Co./ reporter Ador Vincent S. Mayol
