September 9, 2024 | 8:29am
MANILA, Philippines — Doomsday preacher Apollo Quiboloy is now in the custody of authorities after five months of being at large due to different cases.
As of writing, the preacher is in Camp Crame in Quezon City after being flown from Davao City.
Within a week, two high-profile personalities were nabbed by authorities. First was dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo on September 4 and now, Quiboloy.
Here’s what we know so far as the manhunt on Quiboloy ends:
Arrested?
In a Facebook post on Sunday evening, September 8, Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos said that Quiboloy was caught.
The post featured a selfie of an unidentified individual with Quiboloy wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh or scraf around his neck and one of his lawyers, Israelito Torreon.
“Nahuli na po si Apollo Quiboloy (Apollo Quiboloy has been caught),” Abalos’ post read.
Transfer to Manila
The self-proclaimed “Appointed Son of God was not presented before Pontius Pilate, but was flown to Manila.
Quiboloy was said to be in custody in Davao City around 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, according to Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo.
He was arrested inside the compound of his “church,” the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC). It can be recalled that his supporters vehemently denied that their “church” leader was inside the compound.
Aside from Quiboloy, his co-accused in the cases lodged at the Pasig and Quezon City courts were also arrested: Jackielyn Roy, Ingrid Canada, Cresente Canada and Sylvia Cemanes.
They were flown from Davao in a C-130, a military transport aircraft, at 6:30 p.m. and landed at the Villamor Airbase around 8:30 p.m. of Sunday.
Quiboloy, arrived at the custodial facility of the PNP at around 9:10 p.m. with a convoy. He then went into a “booking process” which include the gathering of fingerprints and mugshot.
During the service of arrest warrant on August 24 at the 30-heactare compound of KOJC, the PNP deployed 2,000 of its personnel in search Quiboloy and his co-accused. This move was called by Quiboloy’s allies as an “excessive use of force” and an “overkill.”
A Davao court on August issued a temporary protection order on KOJC which ordered the police to remove all the obstruction around the Quiboloy-owned compound which blocks the entry of his supporters.
However, this order was overturned by the Court of Appeals of Cagayan de Oro on September 3.
Surrendered, not arrested
Contrary to the statement of Abalos, the preacher was not arrested by law enforcement authorities, but surrendered to them.
One of Quiboloy’s lawyers Ferdinand Topacio in a statement said that the doomsday preacher surrendered to the intelligence service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Quiboloy’s lawyer, Ferdinand Topacio, said that the preacher surrendered to the Armed Forces of the Philippines and was not arrested by the PNP. | via @IanLaquiPatrick pic.twitter.com/Gerb1VaI8Y
— Philstar.com (@PhilstarNews) September 8, 2024
According to Fajardo, the PNP gave a 24-hour ultimatum warning those involved to surrender or the authorities will forcibly enter into a specific building where access had been denied by Quiboloy’s supporters.
The PNP, through the AFP’s intelligence unit, then negotiated for the preacher’s surrender which the latter obliged.
Quiboloy will be facing child, sexual abuse and human trafficking charges before the local courts. He has been at large since April 2024.
Aside from the standing cases in local courts, the preacher is also facing several charges before the courts in the United States which led to his inclusion to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s most wanted list.
The charges against Quiboloy can be read here.
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