DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 10 April)— The Police Regional Office here (PRO-11) said locating Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy is a “little bit” challenging because “he has a lot of logistics and friends.”
Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy. MindaNews file photo by MANMAN DEJETO
The statement by Brig. Gen. Alden Delvo, police regional director, came a week after the Regional Trial Court (RTC) released the arrest warrant on Quiboloy and his aides for alleged crime of child abuse and sexual abuse.
Delvo said that Quiboloy even “has a chopper, an airplane … a lot of friends.”
“If you are a fugitive and you have many friends and logistics, you will be difficult to capture,” he admitted.
Quiboloy uses private jets which he parks in his private hangar. One of them is a Cessna Citation Sovereign private jet, which was held in Hawaii in 2018 after piles of cash and some gun parts were found in the plane. Hawaii News Now reported Quiboloy “does not own the private plane, worth at least $15 million, but he does lease it.”
Delvo said should other people try to hide Quiboloy from investigators and implementers of his arrest warrant, they will be held accountable as well.
“I have already warned these persons coddling him, or intentionally, willfully hiding him, because that is against the law, that is obstruction of justice. I am not pinpointing anybody here but I am giving the warning to everyone,” the police officer said.
Delvo even said he has been acquainted with Quiboloy, noting “they share the same birthday on April 25.” The general said he “has been invited and attended some of the pastor’s birthday celebrations.”
Quiboloy is known to open his Kingdom of Jesus Christ Compound to the public during birthday celebrations, with extravagant foods, rides, cartoon character mascots, and the like, dubbing it as “Sonshine Across the Land.”
Delvo said the last time he dealt with Quiboloy was during the closure of the pastor’s Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI)’s on January 28 as ordered by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).
He, however, did not go to the venue, but talked to the regional director of the National Telecommunications Commission to deliver the closure order because he was not expecting resistance from Quiboloy’s camp anyway.
He said that as a police regional director, “he is just professional and doing his job.”
As far as their intelligence personnel were concerned, they cannot yet confirm where Quiboloy is, Delvo said.
“I have [Quiboloy’s] warrant, we have no grudges with each other, maybe he has something to answer in the court of law,” he said.
Delvo said they have been “in constant communication” with Quiboloy’s lawyers to have their client come out, just like his personal aides.
On Monday morning, the Senate’s Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms (OSA) met with officials from the Davao City Police Office, PRO-11, the regional office of the National Bureau of Investigation, the 1003rd Infantry Brigade, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, and Task Force Davao to discuss the serving of the Senate’s arrest order against Quiboloy.
Delvo confirmed that the OSA officials, led by Director III Manny Parlade and Director II Gil Valdez, are staying in the city and will help locate Quiboloy’s whereabouts.
Five other co-accused of Quiboloy have either been arrested or surrendered. All five were released from detention after posting bail of P80,000 each.
Arrested on April 3 were Tamayong Barangay Captain Cresente Canada, Paulene Canada, and Sylvia Cemañes. Jackielyn Roy and Ingrid Canada surrendered the next day.
Two arrest warrants have been issued against Quiboloy—the Senate’s contempt warrant for not appearing before the committee hearings conducted by the Committee on Women, Children, Family and Gender Equality, and by the Regional Trial Court for alleged violation of Section 10 (a) of Republic Act 7610 or the “Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act.”
“For us in PRO-11, I am directing all the intelligence units to really double their efforts in looking for Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, and also their lawyers. We’re reaching out to them that their client will be brought out in the open, to face these charges.
Anyway, this is a bailable offense,” Delvo said. (Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)
