Cops disperse Quiboloy followers on Day 3 of standoff

BLOCKING FORCE After blocking a stretch of a highway with trucks and other vehicles on Sunday night, Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) members stage a rally outside the sect’s headquarters in Davao City, to protest a raid on the compound to search for fugitive televangelist Apollo Quiboloy. Police dispersed them on Monday.

DAVAO CITY—Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos on Monday called on fugitive televangelist Apollo Quiboloy to surrender, as police that day dispersed hundreds of his followers in Davao City and dismantled their barricades on the highway leading to the compound of his Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) sect.Abalos was in Kidapawan City on Monday attending a festival in the Cotabato provincial capital 58 kilometers west of Davao City, Quiboloy’s hometown and the bailiwick of his allies, the Duterte family.

“We have a process, we have a justice system we have to follow,” the chief of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) told reporters when asked about the police gathered outside the KOJC compound since Saturday in another attempt to arrest Quiboloy. Earlier in April, policemen also gathered outside the 30-hectare property but failed, amid his supporters’ resistance, to apprehend the fugitive preacher who faces a slew of trafficking charges here and abroad. (See related story on this page.)On the third day of what has become a standoff between police and Quiboloy’s followers, Abalos denied that the renewed drive to arrest the televangelist was ordered by Malacañang.

“This is purely a police operation. It is based on intelligence report[s],” said Abalos, who, as DILG chief, has supervision over the Philippine National Police as well as local officials such as Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte.

“They (the PNP) know better than me. If they feel there is adequate intelligence report, so be it. If they feel they have to serve it (arrest warrant) now or tomorrow or what, so be it. I don’t want to be obstructionist,” he said.

‘Unauthorized occupation’

In Manila, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin told reporters that Quiboloy “is answerable to the law, [so] the law must take its course.”

Mayor Duterte, in a statement on Monday, criticized the police for “no longer following proper procedure in implementing the warrant, especially in the use of excessive force against innocent citizens and their unauthorized occupation at the KOJC compound.”

“As much as I want to intervene, the police personnel will only listen to the PNP chief (Police Gen. Rommel Marbil) and to their Commander in Chief, President Bongbong Marcos,” Duterte said.

Marbil visited Davao City amid the ensuing standoff between the police and the Quiboloy camp.

Earlier, he brushed off rumors that police would cut off water and electricity in the KOJC compound to force Quiboloy to surface.

“We have to follow human rights,” he said.

On Monday afternoon, the police dispersed a rally by Quiboloy’s followers along C.P. Garcia Highway, not far from the compound, as they set up barriers which obstructed traffic since Sunday night.

But by 7 p.m., they gathered into a bigger group outside the Jose Maria College in Sasa village, as they chanted “Duterte! Duterte!” and demanded President Marcos’ resignation.

CONFRONTATION Members of police units in charge of civil disobedience management prepare to confront and disperse supporters of Kingdom of Jesus Christ members gathered outside the sect’s headquarters at Buhangin District in Davao City on Monday afternoon. —GERMELINA LACORTE

‘How long?’

Addressing Quiboloy’s supporters, Duterte said: “We acknowledge the right of the members of the KOJC to protest. However, I am asking you to do it in a peaceful manner and refrain from doing activities that will disrupt traffic flow to ensure the safety of your members and of the public.”

“This situation has already caused inconvenience to motorists, businesses and the public. The public seeks clarification from the PNP, how long do you intend to stay at the KOJC property?” asked Duterte, whose father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, is Quiboloy’s appointed administrator of the KOJC estate.

Abalos appealed for public understanding, saying “That’s how tedious this [operation] is.”

“So I call on the people to understand the work of the police. They really have to search from room to room to room. Just bear with them. What is important is they should follow the law. No one fires a gun or punches someone,” he said.

Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III, Davao regional police chief, said their ground penetrating radar, which detects human temperature and heartbeat, had already located the underground bunker where Quiboloy and his coaccused were supposedly holed up.

“This is it. Maybe Pastor Quiboloy will have [the] sense to just surrender because it’s just a matter of time. He should no longer make it difficult for himself by hiding in the bunker,” Torre told reporters on Sunday, adding that what police did on Saturday was conduct a general survey of the compound.

He said that their findings of “an underground facility” was consistent with the information shared by informants.

The equipment the raiders are employing, Torre added, “can penetrate walls [and] can count people behind the wall.”

Abalos said: “I hope no one obstructs [this operation] so that we could finish it. The sooner it is [done], the better for everyone. Of course I also call on Pastor Quiboloy to surrender so that all these [should] end.” —WITH A REPORT FROM MELVIN GASCON INQ