POLICE and lawyers for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KoJC) traded allegations of abuse about the raid on the home base of fugitive evangelist Apollo Quiboloy, who is wanted for sexual abuse of children and human trafficking.
At a Senate hearing Friday, Philippine National Police (PNP) 11 (Davao Region) Director Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III said unarmed female PNP personnel were body searched before they could do their job and search the Davao City compound for Quiboloy.
During the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights public hearing held in Davao City, Torre said they allowed this to happen after a negotiation with the lawyers of the KOJC on the first day of the search for Quiboloy and five others who are accused of qualified human trafficking and violating the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act.
Director Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III. (Voltaire F. Domingo/Senate Social Media Unit)
“During the negotiation, the lawyers did not allow the PNP personnel to go immediately. They only agreed to specific conditions: 10 women personnel, and they are to be frisked,” Torre told the committee while showing a video of KOJC members frisking the policewomen.
“We had to endure that kind of humiliation because we would only quarrel with them if we did not agree,” he said.
Torre also showed a video of how they searched the rooms inside the ACQ College of Ministry Building, saying the 10 policewomen could not do their job properly with KoJC members “swarming, leading and prohibiting” them from opening some rooms.
But KOJC legal counsel Israelito Torreon said the videos presented by Torre to the panel were on the ninth day of the search.
“They have already been conducting searches in that area, your honor. I don’t know why they like that area very much, the Bible School. Since day one, that has been searched already many times,” Torreon said.
Sen. Ronald de la Rosa, who led the hearing, criticized Torre for allowing the 10 policewomen to do the search without bringing their firearms.
“If your purpose there in going inside is to arrest Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, you allow only 10 women without firearms, who were also frisked by KoJC members; what if Pastor [Quiboloy] had weapons inside and opened fire at your policewomen? Will you allow 10 of your policewomen to die?” De la Rosa asked Torre.
Torre responded, “That’s one of the risk[s] that we have to take, sir.”
But de la Rosa said he thought that was the wrong decision for a commander to take.
“I take responsibility for that, sir,” Torre answered.
The public hearing was conducted in response to the privilege speech delivered by de la Rosa, expressing concern over the deployment of 2,000 police officers from various regions across Mindanao and their decision to station themselves inside and outside the KoJC compound in Davao City.
De la Rosa, a former PNP chief, criticized what he called the excessive deployment of PNP personnel to arrest Quiboloy, disrupting the activities of the KoJC and the Davao City community.
He also noted that KOJC members were claiming that the search of their compound was illegal as no search warrant was issued.
De la Rosa was police chief during the term of former president Rodrigo Duterte, who counts Quiboloy as an ally and spiritual adviser.
Quiboloy’s lawyer, Ferdinand Topacio, said the wanted evangelist was no longer in the KoJC compound in Davao.
Topacio said “no one can survive that long” if what the authorities are saying is that Quiboloy is hiding in an underground bunker located inside the compound.
“Also, the pastor is a very intelligent person, so if he plans to hide from authorities, he will not hide where he can be cornered. You would go out where you can have more room to maneuver. You would not allow yourself to be trapped,” Topacio said.
He said the authorities could do tight surveillance of the whole compound but not stay in it.
Topacio also claimed that various human rights violations were still being committed by the police against the KoJC and its members at the religious group’s compound in Davao but did not specify what these were.
Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos, on the other hand, insisted that Quiboloy is still in the compound.
“Our intelligence report says he’s still there,” Abalos said at a news forum in Quezon City on Saturday.
He said the PNP also believed this.
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