DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 23 May)—The Supreme Court’s Second Division has ordered the transfer of two criminal cases against Apollo C. Quiboloy from the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Davao City to Quezon City.
This after the Court found compelling reasons to grant the request of Justice Secretary Crispin C. Remulla last April 4 for the transfer of the criminal cases, which involved “public interest, with the accused, a well-known religious leader, being influential” in Davao.
“As this could cause local biases and a strong possibility that witnesses cannot freely testify due to fear and influence of the accused, the Court found it prudent and judicious to order the transfer of the cases to Quezon City,” a statement released by the Court on Tuesday reads.
The Court directed RTC Davao to immediately forward the entire records of Quiboloy’s cases within three days while the RTC Quezon City was directed to raffle the cases immediately upon receipt of the records and decide the cases with utmost dispatch.
Last April 3, the RTC-Branch 12 in Davao City released a warrant of arrest against Quiboloy and his co-accused Jackielyn W. Roy, Barangay Tamayong chairman Cresente Canada, Paulene Canada, Ingrid C. Canada, and Sylvia Cemañes in the crime of child abuse.
The arrest warrant was issued following the Department of Justice (DOJ)’s reversal of the resolution from the Office of the City Prosecutor of Davao dismissing the complaints for rape, qualified human trafficking, and child abuse against the respondents.
The Court added that among the reasons why the DOJ requested for the transfer include the “significance of the subject cases extends beyond the local context, touching on broader national policies, public interest,” and “security concerns and the preservation of the proceedings as there is a likelihood of local biases potentially affecting the trial’s impartiality in Davao City.”
The Court also directed judges in Davao City and in other stations in Mindanao “where future related cases involving Quiboloy and his co-accused may be filed to motu proprio order the transmittal of the records to the Office of the Clerk of Court of the RTC, Quezon City and Metropolitan Trial Court, Quezon City, as the case may be.”
Quiboloy has gone into hiding long before the Senate ordered him arrested last March 19
after he was cited in contempt for continuously defying its order to appear in the investigations of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality.
In a recorded statement aired on YouTube channel DZAR 1021, which is being run by the Quiboloy-owned Sonshine Media Network International, the pastor said he has been hiding to preserve himself from threats to his life and not to evade the allegations against him.
He said that the accusations that are now pending before the Regional Trial Courts of Davao and Pasig, and even the ongoing Senate investigations, are part of the “playbook” of the United States government to capture him.
He said that hiding from authorities is the “wisdom of our Lord God” to preserve himself and prevent him from falling into the trap. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
