"CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY - Police trying to arrest cult leader Ruben Ecleo Jr. killed 16 of his followers who were protecting him during a gun battle in Dinagat in Surigao del Norte on Tuesday, authorities said yesterday."
23 Surigao cultists killed
The Philippine Star
"Twenty-three people died in a night of violence as police went to arrest the politically well-connected leader of the cultist group Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA) last Tuesday on an island off Surigao del Norte."
23 Shot to Death in Philippines
The Associated Press
"CEBU -- At least 23 people were killed in two shooting incidents in the central Philippines after police tried to arrest a cult leader accused of killing his wife, police said Wednesday."
Parents, brother of Ecleo wife slain
Inquirer News Service
"CEBU CITY - Gunmen allegedly belonging to Ruben Ecleo's cult Tuesday attacked the home of the parents of his slain wife in Mandaue City, killing her father, mother, brother and their neighbor."
Ecleo cult rich, well-armed
The Manila Times
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY - Former mayor Ruben Ecleo Jr. of San Jose, Surigao del Norte is not merely a politician or a son of Surigao del Norte Rep. Glenda Ecleo. He is the “supreme president” of a Mindanao-based cult with members who are willing to die for their “master.”
Divine to his followers, a criminal to others
Inquirer News Service
"SURIGAO CITY - To his followers, cult leader Ruben "Bobong" Ecleo Jr. is like Jesus Christ. But to his critics he is a wife killer, womanizer, and drug addict."
'They were crawling when suspect finished them off'
Inquirer News Service
"CEBU CITY -- On Tuesday night, a lone gunman, armed with an Ingram machine pistol, opened fire on five members of the Bacolod family as they talked about an ongoing police operation on Dinagat Island to arrest their in-law, cult leader Ruben Ecleo Jr."
Amulets didn’t stop bullets
The Philippine Star
"The followers of the pseudo-Christian cult called Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA) believed with all their heart that amulets such as libretas (booklets) and rings given to them by "Divine Master" Ruben Ecleo Jr. ensured that bullets would do them no harm."
'Massacre is scaring witnesses'
Sun Star
"CEBU -- Lawyers handling the prosecution of Ruben Ecleo Jr.'s parricide case are apprehensive that their seven witnesses will be too scared to testify against the cult leader after hearing about Tuesday's attack on the Bacolods in Mandaue City."
Bacolods' gunman had 5 cohorts?
Sun Star
"CEBU -- If a sketch taken from the gunman is accurate, five other men acted as his lookouts and prepared his getaway motorcycle during Tuesday night's attack on the Bacolod household in Mandaue City. All five, however, remained unidentified and at large Wednesday."
'Monitor members of PBMA in Cebu'
Sun Star
"CEBU -- Gov. Pablo Garcia asked soldiers and police to monitor the activities of Cebu-based followers of Ruben Ecleo Jr., as the murder of Ecleo's in-laws outraged Cebuanos."
History of rape, violence for Bacolods' gunman
Sun Star
"CEBU -- The man who gunned down four members of the Bacolod family and a neighbor had pending rape and serious physical injury complaints in Ozamis City, Misamis Occidental."
Bacolods: Loyal PBMA members for 30 yrs.
Sun Star
"For 30 years, members of the Bacolod family belonged to the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA). But after Alona Bacolod-Ecleo was killed last January, the families left the PBMA stronghold in San Jose, Dinagat Island and lived as squatters in the North Reclamation Area, said Enrique Bacolod, 23."
