THE Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs yesterday ordered the detention of the leader of an alleged cult and his three ranking officials after they were cited in contempt for repeatedly lying before the panel.
Ordered detained at the Senate building by Sen. Ronald dela Rosa were Jay Rence Quilario, 22, alias Senior Agila, the self-proclaimed reincarnation of the Infant Jesus who is the president of the Socorro Bayanihan Services Inc. (SBSI); Mamerto Galanida, 80, SBSI vice president; Janeth Ajoc, and Karen Sanico, officials of SBSI in Socorro, Surigao del Norte.
Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros moved to cite the four in contempt after they repeatedly denied allegations that the SBSI was forcing young girls to marry its members whom the kids do not even know, that it forbids children to study, and it is training children as members of its private army.
“I respectfully move to cite in contempt Jey Rence Quilario, Mamerto Galandia, Janeth Ajoc, and Karen Sanico,” Hontiveros said.
No member of the committee objected, prompting Dela Rosa, who chairs the panel, to order the four to be detained at the Senate premises.
Dela Rosa said he found no reason for the witnesses in yesterday’s hearing to make up stories against the SBSI leader and his officers, the reason why he cited them in contempt.
The contempt order stemmed from the testimonies of witnesses present during the joint hearing of the committees on public order and dangerous drugs, and women, children, family relations and gender equality.
In her testimony, alias Jane, 15, said she was forced to marry an 18-year-old man last year whom she had not even met before. She added Quilario gave the “approval” for her to marry the man.
Jane said SBSI officers led by Ajoc and Sanico listed the names of females aged 12 and above and men 18 and above and picked who among them would be married to each other. She said her parents were not able to object to the will of the cult leaders since it was an order from “god.”
Jane said Quilario officiated their wedding. But Quilario denied this.
“Jane said they were told they would go to heaven, the reason why her parents agreed to the marriage. If not, they will go to hell,” said lawyer Ruth Restauro, who served as the legal counsel and interpreter for the children who spoke in the Visayan dialect.
Once married, Jane said she underwent “counseling” from SBSI officers who told her she must sexually submit to her husband within three days or earlier after their wedding.
Otherwise, she was told the man would be authorized to rape her since they were already husband and wife.
Jane said Quilario persistently also wanted to have sex with her but she always refused.
She said Quilario, who introduced himself as “god,” insisted that young women need to have partners so they can “board Noah’s Ark,” referring to a biblical story where Noah saved the people and animals from a great flood, with each of them having partners aboard the ship.
Jane said SBSI members who violated the rules and regulations of the cult, like being late in their daily “formation” or refusing to have sex with their husbands were punished either by hitting them with a wooden paddle or iron clubs, isolating them in a “foxhole” (a nipa hut located deep in the forest without visitation rights), or made to spin a roleta (roulette) to determine the punishment that would be given them.
Hontiveros said she had information that erring members were made to swim in what the cult called “aroma beach,” a man-made pit with human wastes.
Jane said she escaped from SBSI last May to avoid being married, adding she was sick and tired of what the cult members ordered her to do, and because she was not allowed to go to school.
Mark Vergel Gelsano, who said he was a former member of Quilario’s “elite army” called Soldiers of God, said he bolted the cult in August last year because he could not stomach what the group was doing.
Gelsano said his 12-year-old sister was also forced to marry a man she did not know.
He said he witnessed a young woman run away after she refused to have sex with her husband after their forced marriage.
“Hinabol namin siya at hinatak naming pabalik (We chased her and dragged her back to the premises),” Gelsano said.
He said even Ajoc’s 12-year-old daughter was married to an older man officiated by Quilario, an allegation denied by Ajoc, who said the man was her daughter’s boyfriend and that no marriage took place.
Quilario said: “It is not true that I officiated the wedding of Janeth Ajoc’s daughter. He (Gelsano) is just making up stories.”
Hontiveros said her sources told her that Ajoc’s daughter only met her husband on the day of their wedding.
Alias Renz, 12, testified that he was made to stay in a barracks where they were trained to be soldiers.
“They were trained to be soldiers. They were ordered to gather sand for the construction of the barracks. He escaped because he was not allowed to go to school. He is already 12 years and yet he does not know how to write,” said Restauro, who translated Renz’s testimony.
Responding to a question from Dela Rosa on whether the allegations were true, Quilario said: “We allow children to go out of our premises. We are not detaining them. In Sito Kapihan, children are allowed to get in and out.
“They are allowed to go to school. No one is prohibiting them,” he added.
Alias Coco, also a minor, testified that like Renz, he was also being trained to become a child soldier. He broke down in tears when he was asked why he escaped and was unable to continue with his testimony.
Hontiveros said her office’s investigation showed that only 30 percent of the children’s population in SBSI were allowed to go to school.
The witnesses said Quilario prevented them from getting an education because he, too, was uneducated. Quilaro said he finished second year high school.
The National Bureau of Investigation-Caraga Regional Office said it had issued several subpoenas to the leaders of the SBSI after several complaints against the cult were received by their office but nobody among the leaders honored the subpoenas.
The NBI said it wanted to get assurance from SBSI leaders that they would be safe if they conducted an ocular inspection on the SBSI premises located in Sitio Kapihan, Barangay Sering in Socorro.
Since no SBSI official showed up, the NBI-Caraga said it endorsed the complaints to the NBI main office in Manila, which in turn referred the matter to the Department of Justice.
In response, Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla designated a panel of prosecutors to look into the case.
The preliminary investigation will start on October 9.
The PNP said SBSI was founded in 1980 by Rosalina Taruc.
Quilario who was elected president after Taruc died in June 2021, will serve until 2025.
The SBSI is one of the 75 people’s organizations based in Socorro, Surigao del Norte.
Hontiveros said the way SBSI conducted things changed when Quilario stepped in and transformed it into a cult.
Atty. Ralna Dyan Florano-dela Pena, a grandchild of Taruc, said they were hurt when the SBSI was called a cult.
Dela Rosa said the committee does not want to offend the SBSI but all indications pointed to the fact that SBSI has turned into a cult.
By definition we can say that it is a cult,” Dela Rosa said, “because members are required to have blind obedience.”
Raldene Taruc Florano, another grandchild of Taruc, said it was his idea to bring the SBSI members to the mountainous area of Sitio Kapihan after Surigao del Norte was hit by a strong earthquake in 2019. He feared a tsunami would occur.
Florano said he does not believe that Quilario was introducing himself as “god” since it was his late grandmother who wanted Quilario to succeed her.
Jeng Plaza, a former SBSI member, said he started training as a Soldier of God in 2019. He said Quilario wanted to have a private army to wrest control of the SBSI even before Taruc died.
“They said that Taruc was a poor leader since she was not good at managing the group’s finances. They were in a hurry to train soldiers so they could carry out their plan,” Plaza said.
Plaza said the Soldier of God has seven “levels” of ranks — the highest being called Agila, and the lowest called “fetus,” which is composed of boys aged 6 to 7 years old.
Dela Rosa suspended the hearing after almost eight hours of investigation (it started at 9 a.m. and ended at 4:55 p.m.).
He said he would set another hearing at a later date at the Socorro Municipal Hall in Surigao del Norte so that resource persons wouldn’t have a hard time going to the Senate.
