FORMER President Rodrigo Duterte, in his capacity as administrator of the properties of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC), yesterday said he would take “legal actions and appropriate actions” against those who conducted an “illegal raid” in the properties of the religious group in Davao City.
In a statement, Duterte said while he is saddened to do so, his position as administrator of the KOJC properties calls for him to take action against PNP operatives who attempted to serve an arrest warrant for pastor Apollo Qubiloy, the KOJC leader.
Duterte said he had directed the KOJC members who were “aggrieved and traumatized” by the raid to prepare their affidavits along with an inventory of church properties destroyed.
Duterte said heavily armed members of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and Special Action Force raided various church compounds in Barangay Buhangin and Tamayong, Davao City; Glory Mountain in QSands Baptismal Resort, Samal Island; and Kitbog Compound, Malungon, Sarangani province in an effort to serve warrants of arrest on Quiboloy.
He said there were no search warrants served in all of the church properties, which is a “clear violation of the law” and “an overkill in any language.
“This act cannot go unpunished…It is incumbent not only upon the church but also upon officers of the law to take appropriate action considering that the said trespass was beamed by social media all over the world and thus sent the wrong signal that this country has become a police state with no respect for the law and religious institutions,” he added.
He also said the legal actions he is taking should serve as a warning and lesson for all those who follow and implement illegal and unlawful orders.
Duterte had accused the administration of demonizing Quiboloy even before he could be convicted by a court to divert the public’s attention from the deepening crisis spawned by corruption, incompetence and abuse of authority.
Quiboloy is facing non-bailable qualified human trafficking charges before a Pasig court and charges under Section 5(b) of Republic Act 7610, or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act, and under Section 10(a) of the same act before a Davao court.
EXCESSIVE FORCE?
The alleged use of “excessive force” by the police in serving the warrant of arrest against Quiboloy could have been avoided if the latter submitted himself to the authorities or faced criminal charges against him, a Department of Justice official said yesterday.
DOJ Undersecretary Raul Vasquez said Quiboloy will be given due process to answer the charges against him and that his constitutional rights will be respected.
He added that if the beleaguered pastor is innocent, he has nothing to fear.
“If the charges have no basis at all, then the courts of law will declare them as innocents and they would have all the reasons in the world to declare the charges baseless and worthless,” Vasquez said.
Vasquez’ statement came after Quiboloy’s camp decried the alleged excessive use of force by the police when they recently served the warrant of arrest on the KOJC compound in Buhangin District and the Glory Mountain and Prayer Mountain in Barangay Tamayoyong in Davao City on Quiboloy.
More than a hundred policemen, including those from the elite Special Action Force and units from Northern Mindanao, Caraga and Soccksargen regions stormed the compounds looking for Quiboloy.
The police team failed to arrest Quiboloy, who has become a fugitive from the law after evading a string of arrest warrants issued by courts in Davao and Pasig cities for sexual abuse of a minor and qualified human trafficking.
Quiboloy had designated the former president as the administrator of KOJC properties.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla had earlier challenged Quiboloy to face the criminal charges against him unconditionally if he was innocent.
Remulla reminded the doomsday preacher “that no one is above the law, even if one occupies an important position in his religious organization.”
Quiboloy was also indicted by a California court in 2021 for allegedly conspiring to engage in sex trafficking and has an active arrest warrant in the US issued on November 10, 2021, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. — With Ashzel Hachero
