DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 09 April) – The Davao City Police Office (DCPO) called on fugitive Pastor Apollo Quiboloy to yield peacefully, even as it emphasized that private individuals can also apprehend the self-appointed “Son of God” and founder of Kingdom of Jesus Christ by virtue of a citizen’s arrest.
In a press conference Tuesday morning, Colonel Richard Bad-ang, DCPO director, assured the Quiboloy camp that authorities would serve the arrest warrants for him peacefully.
“We want to implement the arrest warrants without bloodshed. The Police Regional Office (PRO) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) are in constant communication with Quiboloy’s lawyers so that the warrants will be served peacefully,” he said in mixed English and Filipino.
He noted that they are not discounting the possibility that die-hard supporters of Quiboloy would protect him from getting arrested.
Authorities have drawn up a contingency plan if such scenario happens, he said.
A Rappler report on April 3 said that Quiboloy owns at least 19 firearms.
Bad-ang urged the public to help authorities arrest Quiboloy by providing information on his whereabouts.
Quiboloy vowed to come out of hiding and face the charges against him if President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will give a “written guarantee” that Americans will not meddle in the local proceedings.
The pastor is also wanted in the United States for sex trafficking, fraud and coercion, conspiracy and bulk cash smuggling.
Marcos labeled Quiboloy’s conditions to the government as “a little bit tail-wagging the dog”.
“It seems to me [that Quiboloy acts as if he is] a little bit tail-wagging the dog, na siya ang magbibigay ng kondisyon sa gobyerno doon sa kasong akusado siya (that he sets conditions to the government from the case he’s been subject for an arrest warrant),” Marcos told reporters on Monday.
However, Marcos guaranteed that his administration “will exercise all the compassion to Pastor Quiboloy, whom we have known for a very long time.”
On Monday morning, the Senate’s Office of the Sergeant-of-Arms (OSA) met with officials from the DCPO, PRO-11, NBI-11, 1003rd Infantry Brigade, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, and Task Force Davao to discuss the serving of the Senate’s arrest order against Quiboloy.
Bad-ang said they reported to the OSA that five other co-accused of Quiboloy have either been arrested or surrendered. All five were released from detention after posting bail of P80,000 each.
Arrested on April 3 were Tamayong Barangay Captain Cresente Canada, Paulene Canada, and Sylvia Cemañes. Jackielyn Roy and Ingrid Canada surrendered the next day.
Two arrest warrants have been issued against Quiboloy – the Senate’s contempt warrant for not appearing before the committee hearings conducted by the Committee on Women, Children, Family and Gender Equality, and by the Regional Trial Court for alleged violation of Section 10 (a) of Republic Act 7610 or the “Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act.” (Ian Carl Espinosa/MindaNews)
