In a three-page resolution, the Court affirmed its October 18, 2010, decision denying Ecleo’s petition for review for being filed out of time and for failing to show any reversible error on the part of the anti-graft court that would warrant SC’s action.

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 entertained.

The Court stressed that Section 2 of Rule 45 of the Rules of Court provides that a petition for review shall be filed within 15 days from notice of the judgment or final order or resolution appealed from, or from the denial of a motion for new trial or reconsideration filed in due time after notice of judgment.

The records would show, the SC said, that Ecleo filed his petition for review on certiorari only on September 8, 2010, which was more than two years from June 17, 2008, when the Sandiganbayan denied his motion for reconsideration.

“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 for the construction of a public market, a new municipal building and a guesthouse when he was still mayor of San Jose town in Surigao del Norte from 1991 to 1994.

Ecleo is the “Supreme Master” of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association which reportedly has more than a million membership.