DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 7 March) – The Police Regional Office – Region 11 (PRO-11) is ready to implement the arrest order for Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) founder Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, an official said.
Catherine Dela Rey, PRO-11 spokesperson, said they will apprehend Quiboloy once they have the copy of the arrest order.
Last Tuesday, Senator Risa Hontiveros, chair of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, cited Quiboloy for contempt for defying the Senate’s subpoena for him to appear at the committee hearing that day. He had earlier snubbed the hearings twice, prompting the Senate to issue a subpoena.
Hontiveros then requested Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri to order Quiboloy’s arrest “so that he may be brought to testify.” Senator Robinhood Padilla objected to Hontiveros’ contempt ruling. Under the Senate rules, a contempt order can be reversed or modified by a majority vote of all its members within seven days.
Quiboloy’s lawyer, Elvis Balayan, had written Hontiveros that compelling the pastor to appear before a committee “that already pronounced him guilty would be violative of his constitutional right against self-incrimination and to be presumed innocent unless proven guilty,” Hontiveros said “these excuses are not going to work.”
In a press conference Wednesday at the Royal Mandaya Hotel here, Dela Rey said they will wait for the arrest order to come from the main headquarters of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Camp Crame, Quezon City.
“The PNP follows a chain of command – the Senate will give a legal order to the PNP national headquarters and then they will send the communication to the Police Regional Office 11, and once we receive it, we will act on it,” Dela Rey explained.
Dela Rey said their intelligence units “are readying to find Quiboloy.”
The pastor is known to reside at the Tamayong Prayer Mountain in Tamayong, Calinan District and near the Jose Maria College, his own educational institution near the Francisco Bangoy International Airport.
“Wala man tay ginadapigan… kung naa man siya diri sa Davao region, and if naa na tong order, we will serve it,” Dela Rey said.
Lieutenant Colonel Grace Lascano, assistant chief of Aviation Security Unit 11, said Quiboloy’s private plane, or any other planes, needs clearance from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) before any movement is allowed.
She said that CAAP holds authority to halt Quiboloy’s flights, provided there’s a legal notice or documents.
Quiboloy has been in hiding since February 21, claiming that the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency, and other United States authorities, aided by the Philippine government, are “out to eliminate him.” (Ian Carl Espinosa/MindaNews)
