DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/19 August) – Brigadier General Nicolas Torre III, director of Police Regional Office – 11 (PRO-11), criticized Monday members of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ [KOJC] and some Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI) personalities for allegedly being controlled by fugitive pastor Apollo Quiboloy.
Quiboloy founded the KOJC in 1985 and the SMNI in 2000.
“Hindi ba nila nakikita ang mga sarili nila [KOJC members]?… Sinususian sila ng isang taong may warrant na ang kaso ay child abuse, child molester? (Did they not see themselves? … They are being controlled by a person who is wanted for child abuse, a child molester),” Torre said during the PRO-11 flag ceremony, which was also live streamed on Facebook.
The Regional Trial Court (RTC) – Branch 12 in Davao City issued a warrant of arrest against Quiboloy and several others last April 3 while the RTC in Pasig City ordered their arrest on April 11 for child abuse and qualified human trafficking charges, respectively.
Police arrested Paulene Canada around 1 p.m. last July 11 at her residence in Emily Homes Subdivision in Barangay Cabantian here, through tips received from informants, and was flown to Manila the next day.
As of this writing, Quiboloy and the other co-accused – Jackielyn Roy, Cresente Canada, Ingrid Canada, and Sylvia Cemañes – are still at large.
During the flag ceremony, Torre slammed SMNI for allegedly ridiculing him and the Philippine National Police (PNP) through social media amid their efforts to arrest Quiboloy.
“Social media is not a place to be. The place to be is the court, and it will only start rolling if their leader and those other accused submit themselves to the jurisdiction of the court,” the police official said.
Torre singled out the SMNI personalities who allegedly ridiculed him and the PNP as Lorraine Badoy, former undersecretary and spokesperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, Jeffrey “Ka Eric” Celiz, former member of the national operational command of the New People’s Army, Marlon Rosete, SMNI chief operating officer, and KOJC lawyer Israelito Torreon. They have not commented so far on Torre’s pronouncement.
These SMNI “panelists” regularly do their “press conferences” with apparently no scheduled days, and would be live streamed on their various social media sites, usually starting at 8:45 p.m.
The last “press conference” was aired on August 17 and lasted for almost two hours and 30 minutes.
During that press conference, Celiz told Torre that “he must put sanity on the operations of the Philippine National Police, or else the people will lose their trust and confidence in the police.”
Celiz also claimed that lower-ranking police officers “might be used to advance Torre and other PNP officials’ interests to get the reward money for finding Quiboloy.”
The Department of the Interior and Local Government had announced a ₱10 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Quiboloy, and P1 million each his for his co-accused.
Commenting on Celiz’s claims, Torre said the police are merely enforcing the law to arrest the fugitive Quiboloy.
Despite the alleged ridicule from the SMNI personalities, Torre urged his subordinates to remain professional, and to rather reply “that KOJC members are under control by a fugitive who has a pending warrant or arrest.” (Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)
