THE Supreme Court junked with finality the petition filed by Dinagat Islands Rep. Ruben Ecleo Jr. seeking the reversal of the Sandiganbayan’s 2006 ruling sentencing him and two others to 31 years in jail for graft.

The SC upheld its October 18, 2010 decision denying Ecleo’s petition for review for failing to show any reversible error on the part of the Sandiganbayan.

The SC did not give weight to Ecleo’s  arguments  that his petition was dismissed not based on its merits but on mere technicality, and that substantial justice called for his petition to be accepted.

“Although the petitioner sought from the Court an extension of the time to appeal by petition for review on June 30, 2008, he subsequently informed the Court on July 28, 2008 that he was no longer filing the petition for review. Under such circumstances, the adverse decision promulgated on October 13, 2006, attained finality, rendering the Court bereft of the jurisdiction to review the decision,” the Court ruled.

Ecleo was convicted for his alleged involvement in anomalous construction deals when he was still mayor of San Jose town in Surigao del Norte from 1991 to 1994 for the construction of a public market, a new municipal building, and a guesthouse.

Ecleo is “supreme master” of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA) which reportedly has more than a million membership.