Anti-riot police officers secure one of the gates of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ compound in Davao City in the bid to arrest fugitive evangelist Apollo Quiboloy and his co-accused early morning Saturday, 24 August 2024. MindaNews photo
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 26 August) – The lead counsel of Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) founder Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy said on Monday the police are planning to use explosives to access an underground bunker beside the elevator of the Jose Maria College (JMC) – College of Law where the fugitive preacher is believed to be hiding.
In a 28-minute press conference streamed live on his Facebook account that ended shortly past 11 a.m., Atty. Israelito Torreon, who is also dean of JMC-College of Law, said the police forces “are now preparing to blast open the suspected “bunker” where authorities allegedly detected a heartbeat through the police’s ground-penetrating radars.
Torreon believed, however, that the police forces have no legal basis to detonate a portion of the KOJC compound, which is a “private property owned not by Quiboloy, but by his church.”
Police Major Catherine Dela Rey, Police Regional Office-11 (PRO-11) spokesperson, belied Torreon’s claims that authorities are planning to use explosives to force open the bunker.
“Hindi po totoo. Just like na hindi totoo ang sinasabi nila na i-cut ang linya ng kuryente at tubig (It’s not true. The same that it’s not true with what they’re saying that their electricity and water will be cut off),” she said.
Torreon said he hopes that General Rommel Marbil, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), and Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III, PRO-11 chief, will not push through with blasting a portion of the KOJC compound, as they do not have a court order to use explosives.
“Sa tingin namin hindi makatarungan dahil wala po itong legal basis under the law. They intend to bomb a portion of the JMC compound because of their belief that Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy ay nandun po sa isang bunker (We believe this is unjust because it has no legal basis under the law. They intend to bomb a portion of the JMC compound based on their belief that Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy is in a bunker there),” he said.
Torreon urged the law enforcers to leave the premises of the KOJC compound as they have been staying there since Saturday, August 24, and to “cease and desist from their illegal operations” because they are allegedly violating the human rights of the members of KOJC.
He said that PRO-11 purportedly showed him last August 24 only a copy of the arrest warrant issued against Sylvia Cemañes, one of Quiboloy’s co-accused, with address in Pasig City.
The lawyer said that the police forces cannot do “unbridled search” of the entire 30-hectare KOJC complex on the basis of a sole arrest warrant against Cemañes.
“Under Rule 113 of Rules of Court, a warrant of arrest addressed in Pasig City is not a license to conduct an unbridled search into the property owned by a different entity. This is the “first-time ever in the history of the Republic of the Philippines” that a warrant of arrest with an address in Pasig City, which has been shown to us, is being used to conduct an unbridled search, and now, destruction of the property of the KOJC,” Torreon said.
Quiboloy is facing charges for alleged child abuse and qualified human trafficking, along with co-accused Jackielyn Roy, Cresente Canada, Paulene Canada, Ingrid Canada, and Sylvia Cemañes. Paulene was arrested last July 11 at her residence in Emily Homes Subdivision in Barangay Cabantian here.
These suspects have two warrants of arrest issued by the Regional Trial Court (RTC)-Branch 12 in Davao City and the RTC in Pasig City last April 3 and April 11, respectively.
Last May 28, the Supreme Court’s Second Division ordered the transfer of the two criminal cases from RTC in Davao to RTC in Quezon City. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
