DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 12 September) – The arrest and detention of Pastor Apollo Quiboloy on September 8 marked the end of a 16-day police operations inside the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) compound that the regional police chief described as “hide and seek.”
Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III told a Senate sub-committee hearing chaired by Senator Ronald dela Rosa here on September 6 that from their informants and surveillance, they were certain the self-proclaimed “appointed son of God” was in the compound but “what we have done so far is play hide and seek with Quiboloy” in the 23-hectare property.
He acknowledged they are “still very far” in completing the search for Quiboloy, who is facing criminal charges of sexual abuse, child abuse and trafficking. The operations, he said were “hindered and controlled by the KOJC who uses its followers to intervene, interfere, harass, cause delays, and in general disrupt the search. We believe that this allows Quiboloy and others to relocate and hide, change their location as the search, even just in a single building, is being conducted, notwithstanding changing his location.”
According to the police, Quiboloy emerged late Sunday afternoon from ACQ College of Ministries or Bible School, after a 24-hour ultimatum was issued. From the Bible School, he was brought to his hangar and a convoy of nine vehicles proceeded to the Tactical Operations Group of the Philippine Air Force in the Davao region to board a C-130 aircraft to Metro Manila.
Quiboloy’s chief counsel, Israelito Torreon, said Quiboloy “voluntarily surrendered” to the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The police said Quiboloy was taken to custody by Brig. Gen. Romeo Macapaz, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Intelligence Group.
Torreon claimed Quiboloy was not in the KOJC during the police operations from August 24 but was “napuslit” (brought back into the compound) “galing sa bundok” (from the mountains) on Sunday, Day 16, allegedly as a “face-saving” measure for the police which mounted the 16-day operations.
Torreon said Quiboloy was in the compound “to check on his followers, and he informed them that he has to surrender, that this has to end, and that the welfare of his members is most important” and that he was doing the “ultimate sacrifice.”
Torre deployed at least 2,000 police personnel from various regions in the country to arrest Quiboloy and four of his co-accused.
Bedrooms
Torre said that during their “hide and seek,” they found evidences to support the allegations of the victims who filed charges in court.
In their search for Quiboloy, he said, they found minors, some of them watching nursery rhyme videos but when the Department of Social Welfare and Development returned the next day, the children could no longer be found.
The Office of the City Building Official had denied Torre’s request for a copy of the KOJC’s building plans so architects in the PNP Engineering Service “made a sketch based on the videos and the descriptions given to us.”
Showing videos and photographs, Torre gave the Senate sub-committee a tour of the two-floor Bible School, the building that Torreon described as “one of the favorite places talaga or pinakapaborito na lugar na ma-search po ng police.”
The interesting part, he said, is the second floor where Quiboloy’s room is. “You see the doors passing through both sides and always beside a woman’s room. Also with various entrances and exits,” he said.
“If you look at Apollo’s bedroom, the bed cover is newly-placed because if that’s an old bed cover, the creases would have straightened out already,” he observed.
He said they were not allowed to search on their own terms but on KOJC’s terms.
He showed the bedroom of Quiboloy and a woman’s room with shoes, designer bags and other luxury items.
He said they wanted to search “on our own terms” but KOJC members would allow only a few police personnel, even frisking them before they could enter what they often referred to as “women’s quarters.”
Torre said the delays would allow anyone who is hiding to move to another area. The Bible School he said, has two floors and two stairways on both ends and one in the middle.
He said they repeated the search the next day with the DSWD to look for the children who were no longer around, and to continue the search for Quiboloy.
“Again they were frisked, they were delayed. And we thought that they will be giving us free access,” he said.
But Torre noted that there were rooms that they could not open on the second floor because they were told “restricted.” The door was eventually opened but after several minutes of delay.
“The most common refrain of KOJC in preventing or delaying searches is, quarters ng mga babae yan. And we have heard it a while ago from one of our source persons na puro daw mga quarters ng mga babae. So in the areas that we searched, we observe that Quiboloy’s room is the only man’s room in these areas,” he said.
Child abuse, sexual abuse, trafficking
Torre urged the KOJC to tour dela Rosa and company in the ACQ College of Ministries, in the cathedral, in the first floor of the JMC building, in the dormitory of the pastorals, “if there are other men living in that area” aside from Quiboloy.
He also observed that “all the rooms of Apollo Quiboloy are not offices. All these rooms are bedrooms, including in the cathedral.”
Dela Rosa asked: “What are you trying to imply?”
Torre replied: “I’m trying to imply sir that the warrant, especially this warrant in (Regional Trial Court) Branch 106 (is) for violation of section 5B of RA 7610” for sexual abuse of minors.
At the start of his presentation, Torre listed the warrants for the arrest of Quiboloy and his co-accused on charges of child abuse, other sexual abuse, and qualified trafficking in persons.
In addition to the criminal cases, the Senate on March 19 issued a warrant for Quiboloy’s arrest after he was cited for contempt for not appearing for the third time at the hearing of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality. The committee was then investigating, in aid of legislation, the “reported cases of large-scale human trafficking, rape, sexual abuse and violence, and child abuse of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ under its leader Apollo Quiboloy.”
In the United States, Quiboloy and two other church administrators have been placed on a “wanted” list by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) since early 2022 for “conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, and sex trafficking of children; sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion; conspiracy; and bulk cash smuggling.” A federal court had issued a warrant for their arrest in November 2021.
Malice vs evidence
Torre described Quiboloy’s room in the Bible School as “the most lavish” so far among the bedrooms they found in various buildings, including the cathedral.
“With a jacuzzi to boot. And that is surrounded by rooms of women. Adjacent to it is a room for a woman we have not yet identified,” Torre said.
“Well, you’re trying to impute malice. You’re trying to impute malice,” dela Rosa said, adding that no matter how expensive, Quiboloy can afford the jacuzzi (he referred to it as “bathtub”) because “he can buy an airplane, he can buy a helicopter.”
Torre said: “The warrant of arrest had already been issued by a judge on charges of sex with a minor.”
“So?” dela Rosa asked. Torre replied: “That means Sir, that the rooms that we are searching is really the room of Apollo Quiboloy based on all the indicators.
Kaya lang Sir, tagus-tagusan ng mga kwarto, tagus-tagusan ng mga pinto, kailangan namin Sir is search on our own terms,” he said.
“But you agree that all you are saying are all theories,” dela Rosa pressed. “Yes sir, of course,” Torre replied.
Dela Rosa asked: “Have you seen Pastor Apollo Quiboloy making sex with the children in that bathtub?”
“We are not saying, Sir. It’s in the warrant (for sexual abuse),” Torre answered.
“Because you are trying to impute malice in your statements,” dela Rosa said.
“No Sir, I’m not imputing malice, I’m just stating what is in the (warrant),” said Torre.
Dela Rosa said: “I was not born yesterday. The way you deliver your statement is trying to impute malice” but Torre remained firm: “What I’m saying, Sir, is that the evidence that we see is supporting the warrant of arrest for sex with the child, Sir.”
“Okay, you are free to make your own assessment. But I am also free too, as the chairman of this committee,” dela Rosa said, adding, “That’s what I observe from you. You are trying to impute malice on the subject (in) the absence of actual sex happening in that bathtub.”
Torre’s response: “I think the actual sex happening, Sir, was already discussed and already studied (by) the judge (who issued the warrant).”
Torre ended his presentation by saying: “We will not stop until we arrest the fugitives because this is our duty. And most importantly, we cannot and will not abandon the once voiceless victims of Apollo Quiboloy.”
Pastor and Pastorals
Accounts from former pastorals detail how they were recruited as “full-time miracle workers” to raise funds for the church through “begging and carolling,” to “sell anything for fund-raising.”
In exchange, they were promised blessings from the self-proclaimed “appointed son of God’” and free education at the Jose Maria College.
Pastorals are supposed to assist in preparing Quiboloy’s “food, clothing, bathing regimens.”
A victim narrated in her affidavit that there are two kinds of full-time workers: the extended pastorals and the close-in pastorals. “The close-in pastorals have duties and responsibilities which pertained to the day to day personal needs and necessities” of Quiboloy. Their schedules and movements are “far more restricted” and they are “housed in rooms near the room” of Quiboloy.
Evening of September 1, 2014, a 17-year-old close-in pastoral was summoned by Quiboloy’s co-accused, Jacqueline Roy, to “sanctify yourself” because part of the ministry of a pastoral was to massage Quiboloy, that it was a privilege because not everyone could touch the “son of God.” She was also told that she “should not question” whatever happens inside the room and just submit to him.
Before going to the room of the “son of God,” she said in her affidavit that she was instructed to take a bath, shampoo her hair with “Palmolive violet color,” use lotion and “Enchanted body mist, Bath and Body Works brand,” Quiboloy’s favorite scent.
In the bedroom of Quiboloy, the 17-year-old massaged the sleeping Quiboloy who, when awakened, sexually abused her, she said in her affidavit. She said she later realized that other close-in pastorals were also made to go to the pastor’s bedroom.
“I would intentionally sleep late at night to observe the other pastorals. I noticed that as if there was a routine amongst us, almost every night one pastoral would take a bath, would wear newly-washed clothes and would use the same shampoo brand (Palmolive violet color), a lotion and body mist (Bath and Body Works brand) with specific scent of ‘Enchanted’ which according to respondent Roy (is) the favorite scent” of Quiboloy.
“They said that the named pastor sexually molested them”
In a statement on Wednesday, three days after Quiboloy was flown to Manila, Acting Davao City police chief Col. Hansel Marantan said she interviewed “close to five young girls on separate occasions, all members of the Pastoral Community, and in unison, while in tears, they said that the named pastor sexually molested them. He raped them when they were as young as 13 years old and threatened them with the ANGELS OF DEATH if they broke the code of secrecy.”
“These young girls did not trust the law enforcement agencies that were supposed to help them because they observed that the PNP (Philippine National Police) and AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) are afraid of Pastor Quiboloy and his ministry; some even are members of the KOJC Pastoral Community. If we do not act and remain passive despite the reports of women being taken advantage of, it is as if we are allowing our future to be exploited,” Marantan said.
“Now for us all, let me use this statement: ‘if a thousand wicked should bleed, fall, and be killed to protect and preserve the peaceful existence of many, especially our children, who are the symbols of hope and our future, then prepare the burial grounds for the fallen thousand,’” he said.
Tactical retreat, no retreat
At the Senate hearing on September 6, dela Rosa urged Torre to “make a tactical retreat” claiming it had taken them so long but the police had not arrested Quiboloy.
“The way I see it right now, no matter how you defend your position, you are at the losing end.. You cannot justify your existence there in the compound,” he said.
“And I think, I am suggesting to you, kung talagang after 13 days of occupation of that compound, still hindi ninyo na-arrest si Pastor Quiboloy, I think it’s high time for you to make a tactical retreat,” said dela Rosa, who served as national police chief from 2016 to 2018 under the administration of then President Rodrigo Duterte. Dela Rosa spent most of his career in this city and was its police chief form 2012 to 2013.
But Torre stood his ground: “We won’t stop until we arrest Apollo Quiboloy, Sir. We believe he is in the KOJC compound and we’ll look for him. If only the KOJC members will cooperate with us, leave us alone (with) what we are doing. We’re not hurting them. We’re not hurting them. They are the ones impeding us,” he said.
Torre also said there is “no point of debating considering that the court order still subsists and it will be a great dereliction of our duty if we will stop and we will not comply with the court order.”
“We have positive information that Mr. Quiboloy is in the compound and you have seen the challenges that we faced in the past 13 days … There’s only one person who can end this all: the son of God, claiming to be the son of God. Kasi nga naman ang son of God na kilala ko, na nabasa ko sa libro, nagpapako sa krus para sa kanyang pananampalataya” (The son of God that I know, that I read in the Book, had himself nailed on the cross for his faith), he said.
Dela Rosa, who went to the KOJC compound on Day One of the police operations to talk to Torre and Torreon, called on Quiboloy to surrender and face the criminal charges against him because “you cannot hide forever.”
“Kung ayaw nya, wala tayong magagawa. It’s his call. Kung pwede, mas maganda sana (If he doesn’t want to surrender, there’s nothing we can do. It’s his call. But it would be better if he does)” because there are warrants from the courts. “You cannot hide (forever),” he told reporters waiting outside the KOJC compound.
Three days later, he delivered a privilege speech at the Senate questioning the alleged excessive use of force in the operations to arrest Quiboloy, that eventually led to the September 6 ocular inspection and Senate hearing in Davao City.
Torreon told reporters they requested for the Senate hearing.
Quiboloy’s arraignment is scheduled on Friday, September 13.
Quiboloy and his co-accused are set to physically attend the arraignment in Pasig City Regional Trial Court Branch 159 on Friday morning and the arraignment and pre-trial via videoconference hearing in Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 106 on Friday afternoon. (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)
