THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has junked due to lack of evidence the criminal complaints filed by former president Rodrigo Duterte against then interior secretary Benhur Abalos, PNP chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil, and several other PNP officials in relation to the September 2024 raid of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) compound in Davao City to arrest pastor Apollo Quiboloy over child abuse and trafficking charges.
State prosecutors said they found no evidence to support the complaint for malicious mischief and violation of domicile that Duterte filed as administrator of the KOJC properties.
“The records are barren of any factual or legal basis to sustain the prosecution of the herein respondents for the offenses charged. The totality of evidence fails to show that they personally committed or directed the commission of either malicious mischief or violation of domicile,” read the 14-page resolution, which was dated May 13, 2025 and signed by Assistant State Prosecutor Angelica Laygo-Francisco.
“Their actions, as alleged, fall within the realm of lawful performance of duty and are protected by the presumption of regularity on official functions. Absent any overt act that constitutes an element of the crimes charged, and in the absence of malice or unlawful intent, or personal participation, this Office finds that no probable cause exists to warrant the indictment of the respondents,” it added.
In his complaint, Duterte alleged that the operation at the KOJC compound, which happened in September last year and involved several hundreds of police officers, was excessive and unjustified.
He also said the police did not possess a search warrant when they entered the KOJC premises, and that they supposedly damaged several structures during the search operation.
He said that aside from the ground police officers, Abalos and Marbil should be held liable for the operation for command responsibility.
Quiboloy was arrested after nearly two weeks of hiding. He is now detained at the Pasig city jail while facing the criminal charges.
In junking Duterte’s complaint, the DOJ said the former president failed to show the elements required to establish probable cause.
It said that the damage that happened to the KOJC property was inevitable because of the large-scale police operation to serve the warrant of arrest against Quiboloy and his co-accused, who have been seeking refuge at the compound.
It pointed out that the respondents were able to explain that the operating policemen were forced to use tactical entry methods after attempts at peaceful dialogue failed, and that the damage was only incidental to the fulfillment of their official mandate.
“In this light, the element of malice is strikingly absent. No evidence – direct or circumstantial – has been offered to show that any of the respondents, much less those who were not physically present, acted with such malicious intent. At best, the complaints impute malice based on the nature and scale of the operation, which is legally insufficient,” read the resolution.
Additionally, the DOJ noted that some of the respondents, among them Abalos, Marbil and Major General Ronald Oliver Lee, were never even physically present in the compound during the police operation.
“The law on criminal liability under the Revised Penal Code is clear: liability attaches only to those who participate directly, indirectly, or through indispensable cooperation in the commission of the offense,” it added.
It held there was also no violation of domicile, or the unauthorized entry into a dwelling against the will of the owner, contrary to Duterte’s allegation in his complaint.
Likewise, the DOJ ruled that there was no proof that Abalos, Marbil and the other respondents entered the dwellings inside the KOJC compound themselves.
It said that only those who executed the entry could be held liable for any unlawful entry that could be established,
“Absent any overt act constituting an element of the offense, criminal liability cannot be imputed upon them. Even assuming that unlawful entry occurred – and that matter remains to be definitively established – it would be the act of those who executed the entry, not of those who were uninvolved or far removed from field operation,” it ruled.
The DOJ also said that the doctrine of command responsibility cited by Duterte in the complaint does not apply to domestic criminal liability under the Revised Penal Code because “in the Philippine criminal justice system, liability must rest on the accused’s own act or omission, not merely on their official rank or title.”
