MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday brushed off accusations of human rights violations during a police operation at the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) compound in Davao City last weekend.
Marcos made the statement in response to criticisms that sending 2,000 personnel from the Philippine National Police’s Region XI command was an overkill. He insisted their presence was to ensure safety and security of KOJC members during the raid.
“Are there human rights violations when there are a lot of police? I don’t think so. Anyway, the reason we did this was so that we could maintain the peace. The only way to maintain the peace is to make sure that the area is safe and is secure,” the chief executive told reporters during a chance interview in Malacañang.
“And considering this is a 30-hectare compound, you really need a lot of personnel. It can’t be done by just a dozen policemen… There were no human rights violations. None of the police were armed, and no tear gas was used. The operation was peaceful,” he added.
Police forces last August 24 stormed the KOJC compound to serve the arrest warrant for Quiboloy who is facing human trafficking and sexual abuse charges.
It resulted in the death of one KOJC member and caused injuries to several others.
Marcos appealed to Quiboloy to surface and to prevent any more unfortunate incidents.
“I don’t understand why Quiboloy has to drag his followers. They’re not at fault. They did not sign up to be in the frontline of this kind of thing that’s happening now that they will protect him from arrest even when he has cases filed against him not only here in the Philippines, but also in the United States,” the President lamented.
“I can understand their disagreement with us, even anger. But what we all..: that the police are doing is enforcing the warrant of arrest against Apollo Quiboloy. That’s all they’re doing,” he added.
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