Police swarm attacks Quiboloy’s base

(UPDATE) About 2,000 police officers, backed by riot police, stormed the sprawling Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KoJC) compound in Davao City on Saturday to execute arrest warrants for fugitive televangelist Apollo Quiboloy, who is wanted for sexual abuse and human trafficking.

A 50-year-old KoJC member reportedly died of a heart attack during the massive police operation that began early in the morning at the group’s compound in Davao City. The operation was streamed live online by SMNI, a local TV network owned by the group, police said.

They said the death was not related to police operations and that the man was sleep-deprived and exhausted after standing guard on one of the towers of the KoJC complex. It also took a long time for other KoJC members to call an ambulance to take the patient to the hospital.

FULL FORCE Police contingents from different regions in Mindanao are deployed to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ Compound in Davao City on August 24, 2024, to provide law and order amid the impending arrest of its founder, Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, who is believed to be hiding in his church. Some 2,000 police officers stormed the compound around 5 a.m. but could not find Quiboloy. The self-proclaimed “Son of God” is accused of human trafficking and child abuse. SCREENGRAB FROM PNA FACEBOOK PAGE

Authorities have dismissed as fake news reports that at least seven KoJC members were killed during the police operation.

Agents brought equipment that could detect people behind cement walls. But by mid-afternoon, they found no sign of Apollo Quiboloy at the compound — some 30 hectares (75 acres) that includes a cathedral, a school, a residential area, a hangar and a taxiway leading to Davao International Airport.

Quiboloy and his lawyer deny the criminal charges against him and his religious group, which they say were fabricated by critics and former members who were expelled from the religious group after committing irregularities.

Quiboloy’s supporters filmed the police raid on their cellphones. They shouted at the police, questioned the legality of the raid and declared the innocence of Quiboloy, a staunch supporter and spiritual advisor to former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Duterte had criticized previous attempts by large numbers of police officers to arrest Quiboloy as excessive.

Quiboloy claims to be the “Appointed Son of God.” In 2019, he claimed to have prevented a major earthquake in the southern Philippines.

Gen. Nicolas Torre III, who led the raid, said agents were seeking to serve arrest warrants for Quiboloy on several criminal charges, including child abuse and human trafficking.

He justified the large-scale deployment by stating that more than 40 buildings and structures in the religious complex had to be searched, where large numbers of Quiboloy’s followers booed and vociferously resisted the invasion.

“We’re not leaving here until we get him,” Torre told reporters as sirens blared in the background. “We have no bail warrants for Quiboloy and four others charged with very serious crimes, including human trafficking, child abuse and other charges.”

In 2021, federal prosecutors in the United States announced that Quiboloy had been charged with allegedly having sex with women and underage girls who faced threats of abuse and “eternal damnation” if they did not comply with the self-proclaimed “Son of God.”

Quiboloy and two of his key executives were among nine people named in a new indictment returned by a federal grand jury and made public in November 2021.

The new indictment contained a series of charges, including conspiracy, child trafficking, sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, marriage fraud, money laundering, cash smuggling and visa fraud.

Quiboloy’s group said at the time that he was prepared to face charges, but he went underground after a Philippine court arrested him and several others on child molestation and sexual abuse charges.

The Senate separately ordered Quiboloy’s arrest after he refused to appear during hearings of the committee investigating criminal allegations against him.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has called on Quiboloy to surrender and assured him of fair treatment by authorities.

When he was mayor of Davao City, and later as president, Duterte appeared on Quiboloy’s news program to promote his police-sponsored drug raids that left thousands of suspects dead, many of them poor.

Duterte and his police officials deny authorizing extrajudicial killings of drug suspects, but he has openly threatened drug dealers with death when he was in power.

The International Criminal Court is investigating the widespread killings as part of Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs, which it sees as a possible crime against humanity.

Social media posts on Saturday confirmed the presence of police from the Philippine National Police Regional Office 11 at the entrance of the KoJC complex in Buhangin District. They were present before sunrise, surprising many of Quiboloy’s followers.

PNP Region 11 director BGen. Nicolas Torre III, said in an interview broadcast on radio DZBB that they planned to force their way into the complex.

The police then entered the complex at approximately 5:27 a.m.

PRO 11 reported that 2,000 police officers from PRO 10, 11, 12 and 13 were deployed for the operation.

Torre had confirmed that Quiboloy was in the complex.

“Quiboloy is here. We are looking for him,” Torre said in Filipino during a radio interview.

“We have two arrest warrants for these cases. Each warrant covers five individuals. We are also looking for his co-defendant,” Torre added.

There was tight security as PNP Civil Disturbance Management personnel entered and positioned themselves at the entrance of the compound.

“We hope that Quiboloy will surrender. Eventually we will find him. It is only a matter of time. He is only making things difficult for his supporters,” he said.

Torre said there are 42 buildings in the KoJC complex, one of which covers 5 hectares.

Major Catherine de la Rey, spokesperson for the Davao City police, said they would conduct a thorough search.

“We don’t want anyone to get hurt while we are enforcing the law,” she said in Filipino.

As of Saturday afternoon, only a quarter of the KoJC complex had been searched by the PNP after they received intelligence reports that Quiboloy was in the area.

The police promised not to leave the KoJC compound until Quiboloy was found and arrested. They were convinced that his followers were hiding him.

Israelito Torreon, one of Quiboloy’s lawyers, complained that the police showed him the alias arrest warrant when they arrived at the scene around 3:45 a.m., a group of 2,000 men. The search was still ongoing.

When asked if Quiboloy is on the KoJC premises, Torreon replied: “They have not found anything, despite the fact that they have been searching for more than an hour.”

Torreon accused police of destroying the gate and using tear gas while he was still talking to police in front of the complex.

“While they were talking to us and showing us the arrest warrants, other police officers came in from the back. It was tense because while they gave us 30 minutes, someone had come in from the back, destroyed part of the gate and used tear gas,” the lawyer said.

Torreon said he saw two KoJC members who fainted and received medical attention near the cathedral.

He said there were unconfirmed reports of heart attacks and two deaths.

Meanwhile, Torreon said Quiboloy’s lawyers would insist on their client’s rights. He said he hoped for certification and for the National Bureau of Investigation to issue the warrants.

“But General Torre said this is not the time or place to debate whether there is an arrest warrant. He said whether we like it or not, they are going to issue the arrest warrants. We did not argue the point because he seemed so determined to issue the warrant,” he said.

The PNP attempted to serve the arrest warrant in Davao City on June 10, 2024.

Police used ladders to enter the site, leading to tensions between police officers and KoJC members waiting outside the site.

According to KoJC members, the measure was intended to intimidate and coerce Quiboloy.

Quiboloy is charged under Section 5(b) of Republic Act 7610 (the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act) and Section 10(a) of the same law.

Quiboloy is also facing a non-bailable qualified charge of human trafficking under Section 4(a) of Republic Act 9208, as amended, before a court in Pasig.

In July, President Marcos asked Quiboloy to respond to the accusations made against him.

A reward of 10 million pesos was offered for information leading to the arrest of the KoJC leader.

In a radio interview, Torreon and SMNI host Jeffrey Celiz said two people died of heart attacks, while several others lost consciousness. Police confirmed only one death.

In two posts on his Facebook page, Duterte’s former spokesman Harry Roque condemned the raid on the KoJC compound and said the controversial preacher is not a terrorist.

“We condemn the pre-dawn raids by armed police on the KoJC compound,” he wrote in Filipino on Saturday.

“It is sad that law enforcement officers themselves become lawbreakers,” he added.

“An arrest warrant is not a carte blanche for large-scale invasion and takeover, especially of religious property!” Roque wrote in a separate post.

The former Malacañang official spoke publicly for the first time after his 24-hour detention in the House of Representatives for contempt of court on Saturday during a press conference of the Hakbang ng Maisug coalition.

“This is the third time that the police have searched the KoJC compound to find Reverend Apollo Quiboloy. And with such a large intelligence fund, why can’t they arrest him?” Roque said in Filipino.

“As a lawyer with 34 years of active practice, this is the first time that an arrest warrant had to be executed by 3,000 police officers, and that required a takeover of property,” he added. MET AP, ARIC JOHN SY CUA