Ecleo announced in the 1970s that the PBMA would engage in the land transportation business and other "lucrative" ventures. He asked support from the members, at that time, P100 per share of stock. Out of this was born the Northeast Mindanao Bus Company, or Nembusco. By Father Falcon's account, after a number of years in business the company shut down and did not make any public accounting of the shares. Dividends were not declared.

It was also reported that PBMA-ers were then required, when traveling to and from Surigao, to take the Ben-Glen fleet of boats, owned by the Ecleos. (Ben-Glen is the name of one of Ecleo's sons. He now manages the family's recruitment agency.)

Apart from shares of stock, members are required to buy rings and reading materials and to pay annual membership fees. In 1978 the membership fee was PS, a rosary kit cost the same amount, and a ring cost P20 or P3S, depending on the quality. By 1986, the ring was priced at P100. As of 1994, members were being charged an entrance fee of P20, as well as a membership fee of the same amount. But some PBMA members say missionaries pay annual dues ofP100, while stationary and ordinary members pay P25.

Free labor is another form of service PBMA members traditionally provide to their Divine Master. They observe a weekly practice every Sunday of pahina, a kind of bayanihan or mutual-help arrangement whereby they clean the streets, plant trees, carry stones for a building construction, among others. However, piously living up to full meaning of the word benevolent in the organization's name, many members provide free daily labor, particularly in constructing roads, Ecleo's mausoleum, the PBMA office, artificial lagoons, the unfinished mansion of Ruben Ecleo Jr. and other infrastructure projects.

Sarita, San Jose vice-mayor, recalls that when he arrived in Dinagat in 1969, there were only about 10 houses in the settlement, and the roads were unpaved. "Without help from government, we built roads with contributions from members and voluntary labor," he says.

Some wives of PBMA members proudly say their husbands or friends are given meal allowances, just enough to tide them over for the day, in exchange for the work they do for the Divine Master. Ecleo Jr., however, says the practice of free labor has been discontinued and the workers now receive minimum wages.

According to a Sunday Inquirer report by journalist Monica Feria, PBMA settlers were each charged P100 to occupy a 10-by-15-square-meter residential lot, even if the area was public land. In 1986 Ecleo Sr. applied for the use of 3,700 hectares of logged-over area, which he apportioned to his followers.

Ecleo ventured into many other businesses through the years, and today, his family is mightily well-provided for. Apart from setting up businesses, the PBMA founder was engaged in conspicuous consumption. His luxury cars—Mercedes Benzes, a Rolls Royce, a Continental and a Cadillac, the last three locally assembled with parts from the former Clark Air Base—stood out in the rugged terrain of Dinagat island. Hilly San Jose, with its winding roads, many of them unpaved, is unfit for cars. Powerful motorbikes and jeeps are the most practical means of transport.

In a garage at the back of Ecleo's mausoleum, some of the luxury cars and speedboats, along with a jeep, are parked today, covered with cloth. They form part of the legacy of the man who started the PBMA on faith. Like his cars, Ecleo's houses are not at all modest. The main house in San Jose, called the White House, is the largest in the town. Today, it also houses Ruben Ecleo Jr.'s expensive recording studio, which was set up, according to Ruben Jr. himself, at a cost of around P3 million. The elder Ecleo's former rest house, with a small indoor pool, is now occupied by another son, Allan II, barangay captain and prospective candidate for mayor. Another house is in Dinagat, where Ecleo stayed before moving the PBMA headquarters to San Jose. Two other houses are in Surigao City.

Ecleo had no known salary from the PBMA nor did he have a substantial inheritance. He was known to have engaged in mining and charcoal-making. In 1983 his wife and son Ruben Jr. formed REE Trading Enterprises, which closed down in 1987. The rest of Glenda Ecleo's investments are in Minahang Bayan/Dinagat; RGE Stitchmark, a tailoring shop in Surigao City; Twin Dragon Printing Press in Quezon City; and RGE Contracting Services Corporation, also in Quezon City, a recruitment agency of which she was voted treasurer in 1993.

In a speech in Congress in 1989, Rep. Glenda Ecleo talked of achieving social justice for the poor of Dinagat who, after the EDSA revolution of 1986, were finally able to form a mining cooperative known as the Minahang Bayan ng Mamamayan ng Dinagat Island. With a permit for small-scale mining, the inhabitants of the island could "uplift their livelihood," Rep. Ecleo said. In that speech, she did not disclose her business interest in the cooperative. However, in her 1992 statement of assets and liabilities, she listed it as among her "businesses."

Rep. Ecleo and most of her eight children live in Green Meadows, an upper-class enclave in Quezon City. The assessed value of her house is P2.5 million, according to her 1992 statement of assets and liabilities. But a check of real estate prices in Green Meadows shows that a square meter fetches about P16,000. An 800-square-meter lot, which is the minimum lot area in Green Meadows, already costs P12.8 million.

In 1994 Mayor Ruben B. Ecleo Jr. set up the RBE Recording Corporation, with his studio in San Jose as base. The company produces and sells cassette tapes containing his compositions. His captive market? The PBMA chapters in various parts of the country. Ecleo Jr. volunteers that the sale of his tapes has already returned his investment on the equipment.

NOT ONLY was the PBMA a winning business proposition, it also became a formidable voting machine. Former President Ferdinand Marcos led many officials and politicians in wooing Ecleo Sr. and his association's votes. The elder Ecleo was a staunch Marcos supporter. PBMA members like to say how precincts in their villages would turn out zero votes for opponents of Marcos. "We were one for Marcos," recalls Vic Sanchez, a PBMA official who works closely with Congresswoman Ecleo. "He [Marcos] visited Dinagat, and he always called the late Master to Malacanang."

In the February 1986 presidential elections, the majority of Dinagat residents voted for Marcos, giving the late strongman 20,249 votes, compared with Corazon Aquino's paltry 945. Dinagat was the most heavily populated town on the island before San Jose was converted into a municipality in 1988.

Dinagat, the first seat of the PBMA, was the voting machine of the Ecleos. In the 1987 elections, when Glenda Ecleo first ran for Congress against seasoned politico Wencelito Andanar, the town of Dinagat produced the votes for her, coming up with 17,865 in contrast to her opponent's measly 209. The entire island gave her more than 30,000 votes, while Andanar got only close to 6,000 votes. This was for Glenda Ecleo's first term in Congress.

In the 1988 local elections, when Moises Ecleo ran for governor—taking over the late Ruben Sr.'s candidacy—Dinagat marched to the election precincts and gave him 18,088 votes, the largest number of votes in any municipality or city in Surigao del Norte.

These numbers did not turn up, though, in the 1992 synchronized national and local polls. The Commission on Elections, acting on a complaint of former Governor Jose Sering, a political opponent of the Ecleos, placed the entire province of Surigao del Norte under Comelec control. Sering limited his petition to the municipality of San Jose, the seat of the PBMA, but the Comelec decided to cover the whole province, posting military personnel and ROTC cadets in every polling place. The poll body also directed an accredited citizens' arm to deploy as many watchers as possible.

Thus, on May 11, 1992, out of the more than 20,000 registered voters in San Jose, only 11,794 actually voted. More than 8,000 stayed away. Surigao del Norte Governor Francisco Matugas traces this "low" voter turnout to the double registrations of the past. "The PBMA's numbers are a myth," says Matugas. "The 1992 elections proved this."

In the presidential contest, Ramon Mitra won in the first district, represented by Glenda Ecleo. A chunk of his votes—10,223 out of a total of 33,537—came from San Jose. As for Glenda Ecleo, San Jose delivered 10,473 votes out of 33,239—and she got her second term in Congress. She won in 10 out of 16 municipalities on Dinagat island.

In the gubernatorial race, Moises Ecleo lost to Francisco Matugas. But Matugas got a severe beating from Moises Ecleo in San Jose—where he received only 61 votes compared with Ecleo's 10,674.

The barangay elections of 1994 exhibited the same trend that was evident in 1992—a decline in the number of voters even in the PBMA bailiwick. San Jose had 19,325 registered voters, but only 8,465 actually went to the polling places.