ecpg aborts with structure reference

I've found this problem with "ecpg" (I even tried moving up to version 2.9)
where the code:

exec sql include sqlca;

exec sql type APC_LAYO_FLD is struct {
long apcl_id;
char apclf_sect_flg[2];
};

exec sql type APC_LAYOUT is struct {
long apcl_id;
};

exec sql begin declare section;
APC_LAYOUT PL;
APC_LAYO_FLD PLF;
exec sql end declare section;

int
print_template()
{
exec sql begin declare section;
char curr_sect[5];
exec sql end declare section;

if (1) {
exec sql declare fld_curs cursor for
select apc_layo_fld.*
from apc_layo_fld
where apcl_id = :PL.apcl_id
and apclf_sect_flg = :curr_sect
order by apclf_ln_nbr, apclf_col_nbr;
}
exec sql open fld_curs;
}

If I remove the "if", or change the structure reference ":PL.apcl_id" to
a constant it doesn't abort. I think this has something to with the
"open" being outside of the block. I try and dig into the code a bit as time
permits. Thanks.

Tim Nelson