KINGDOM of Jesus Christ (KOJC) leader Pastor Apollo Quiboloy and four of his co-accused in the qualified human trafficking and child and sexual abuse charges were “cornered by the police” inside the KOJC compound, prompting them to voluntarily turn themselves in.
Quiboloy, Crisente and Ingrid Canada, Sylvia Cemañes, and Jackielyn Roy were presented as detainees, wearing an orange prisoner's uniform, during a press conference presided over by Interior and Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos Jr. in Camp Crame, Quezon City on Monday, September 9, 2024.
Abalos tagged as “kwentong kutsero” the claim of Quiboloy’s camp that he sneaked in from outside the KOJC compound in order to “surrender” to the police and “make the ultimate sacrifice” to end the lawless violence in a bid to arrest him.
“Nasakote na eh, huli na, and for me, it makes no difference kung sumuko ka man kasi yun na yun eh. Tactically, napaligiran ka na. Siguro kung nasa ibang lugar ka, kung nasa Mindanao ka, nasa Visayas ka, nasa Luzon ka, yun puwede pa sabihin mo sumuko pero kung nasa isang lugar ka na napapaligiran ka na ng pulis at doon ka rin nakuha, halos yun na yun eh and I explained it,” he added.
Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief General Rommel Marbil said they launched the operation to search for Quiboloy within the KOJC compound on August 24, a week ahead of the religious group’s anniversary, to prevent him from escaping considering the expected huge number of attendees, which will make it hard for the police to monitor all the movements.
Final assault
Davao Regional Police Office Director Brigadier General Nicolas Torre III said after pinpointing Quiboloy’s hiding place, which is at the ACQ College Ministry, also known as the Bible School, on Friday, September 6, they planned a final assault, which was supposed to be implemented at 1 p.m. Saturday, September 7, 2024.
It was, however, postponed for Sunday, September 8.
Marbil said they already considered the possibility that such assault will cost “a lot” of lives.
“Sabi ni Nic (Torre) ‘Sir we will put a pressure on them.’ Give them 24 hours and tama si Nic, we will assault. That’s a last term na pinaalam ni Gen. Torre sa akin ‘Sir, permission to assault ‘yung building.’ Let us make sure kasi maraming buhay ang mamatay dito… Sabi ko kay Nic to make sure kung meron man mamamatay, tingnan natin basta walang bata,” he said.
Torre said they deployed 500 Special Action Force (SAF) troopers and 500 personnel from the Regional Mobile Force Battalion and the Special Weapons and Tactics (Swat) for the said final push to arrest Quiboloy.
“So nakita nila ‘yung buildup na yun eh. So 10 a.m. nakarinig na kami ng feelers. So tumawag ang national headquarters dahil high level ang nagiging feelers ang negotiations. So sige ‘Sir ihold ko hanggang 1 p.m. ko na assault’ natin hanggang 3 p.m.’ So yun other sets of things transpired sa negotiations,” he said.
He said the initial 1 p.m. ultimatum was extended for another two hours in consideration of the surrender feelers sent by Quiboloy’s group.
Quiboloy was met by several ranking police officials, except for Torre, in his hangar inside the KOJC compound and they were transported to the Davao airport for their transfer to Manila. They have been detained at the PNP Custodial Facility in Camp Crame.
The arrest warrants of the accused were returned to the Pasig and Quezon City courts.
The Pasig court, which handles the qualified human trafficking case against Quiboloy and his followers, set no bail recommendation.
The child and sexual abuse charges was initially filed at a Davao court but was later transferred to Quezon City. The bail was set at P260,000.
Reward
Abalos said the PNP will determine the recipient of the multi-million peso reward for the arrest of Quiboloy and his co-accused.
A P10 million reward was offered for any information that would lead to the arrest of Quiboloy and P1 million each for his co-accused.
Abalos said the PNP will also look into several individuals who aided Quiboloy’s group while in hiding.
He said they will be filing charges of obstruction of justice against them.
“Ang pinaka-importante sa akin ‘yung sinabi ko kanina harboring of a person, importante yun kasi I know maski papaano, alam nila kung nasaan si Pastor. Talagang maraming nagtatago sa kanya, importante yun, dapat managot yun,” he said. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)