Police personnel take a rest inside the KOJC compound on 28 August 2024. MindaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 31 August) – The lead legal counsel of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) has alleged that miners have been used in what he described as an apparent “tanim-tao” (literally people-planting) scheme in the ongoing police operation to find fugitive KOJC leader Pastor Apollo Quiboloy inside the group’s compound in Barangay Buhangin here.
In a press conference Saturday afternoon, lawyer Israelito Torreon said the presence of the alleged miners wearing police uniforms is unlawful.
He said some police officers were still drilling the land near the KOJC cathedral as of Friday.
He added that a KOJC member found a bullet while sweeping “just recently.”
“Hindi lang tanim-bala, tanim-tao pa (They are not just planting bullets, they also plant people),” Torreon said, referring to the alleged miners inside the compound.
He said the “miners,” including minors wearing police athlete uniforms, have remained at the cathedral, and they still heard drilling sounds.
He said it’s possible the alleged miners were deployed to dig gold within the compound.
“We already sent a demand letter to Torre,” the lawyer said, referring to Police Regional Office-11 director BGen Nicolas Torre III. “But according to him, some of his decisions are not his anymore.”
The police operation to serve the warrant of arrest against Quiboloy and four of his five co-accused is being undertaken by PRO-11 and police personnel from other regions.
Meanwhile, BGen Roderick Augustus Alba, spokesperson for the PRO-11 Special Task Group Teknon Alpha said some 2,000 police officers from various regions of the country were deployed alternately inside the compound.
Alba said they “will not tolerate this type of behavior,” referring to the allegation that pseudo-police personnel are being used in the operation to find Quiboloy.
He said they are in the compound to serve the arrest warrant “in full compliance with PNP Operational Procedures.”
Police have continued searching for Quiboloy even after the Regional Trial Court Branch 15 in Davao City issued a temporary protection order on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the court released a supplemental and clarificatory order that the protection order issued a day earlier did not cancel or nullify the processes related to warrants of arrest. “Both serve different purposes and are not contradictory,” read part of the supplemental order.
Quiboloy and four co-accused – Jackielyn Roy, Cresente Canada, Ingrid Canada, and Sylvia Cemañes – are still at large. Another suspect, Paulene Canada, was arrested last July 11 at her residence in Emily Homes Subdivision in Barangay Cabantian in Davao City.
They are being accused of human trafficking, child abuse, among other cases, in Davao City and Pasig City. (Ian Carl Espinosa/MindaNews)
