Exhausted cops, weary Quiboloy group in standoff as Davao manhunt drags on

CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines – Followers of fugitive preacher Apollo Quiboloy gathered at the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) compound, their loud prayers mingling with the heavy tension in the air on Saturday evening, August 24. It was a surreal display of faith and futility as police continued to comb the vast property in search of the controversial religious leader and his four associates, all wanted on charges of child abuse and human trafficking.

More than 24 hours have passed since some 2,000 police officers, led by Brigadier General Nicolas Torre III, Davao Region’s police chief, started the search in the KOJC compound near Davao’s Francisco Bangoy International Airport. 

Yet, despite the show of police force, there has been no visible sign that any of the fugitives – Quiboloy, siblings Sylvia and Cresente Canada, Jackielyn Roy, and Sylvia Cemañes – are within the premises. One of Quiboloy’s associates, Paulene Canada, was arrested in July and has been in detention in Pasig.

“We have informants inside. We just haven’t been able to find him due to their well-planned movements within the compound,” Torre was quoted by the Mindanao Times as saying.

The police are playing a perverse game of hide-and-seek inside the 30-hectare property with an intricate infrastructure that includes tunnels, underground spaces and passages, a hangar with a taxiway to the Davao airport, a school campus, and a still-unfinished five-hectare arena designed to accommodate over 70,000 people.

Torre said the police had to familiarize themselves first with the property and its structures on Saturday to respond quickly in future searches.

The search for the self-styled “appointed son of God” has clearly begun to wear on both the police and the KOJC faithful. Images circulated by Quiboloy’s supporters depict weary policemen taking power naps wherever they can — on lawns, under trees, or any available shade — suggesting that, in this standoff, exhaustion might become the ultimate arbiter.

The authorities, however, remained resolute, pressing on with the manhunt with a dogged determination that seemed to test their own limits as much as those of their quarry. 

As the hours dragged on, Torre’s game plan emerged with a clarity that was almost brutal in its simplicity: exhaust the 74-year-old preacher and his associates until they had no choice but to crawl out of their hiding places, like rats scurrying out of their own holes.

Torre said they were certain that Quiboloy was moving around inside, and waiting for an opportunity to sneak out of the property with numerous exit points.

“Ang daming ginagawang camouflage, kino-confuse kami — magdadamit babae, may kasamang mga nurses. Nandyan ang mga informant natin eh. Kaya hinihintay namin siya hanggang magkalinaw ang kanyang kaisipan. Sumurender na lang kasi nga valid ang warrant, talaga namang lifetime. Habang hindi siya nagsusurender sa batas hindi niya mapapa-dismiss ang kasong ito,” he told reporters in a video posted on the RMN News Nationwide Facebook page.

(He’s doing a lot of camouflaging, confusing us — dressing up as a woman, accompanied by nurses. Our informants are there. That’s why we’re waiting for him until he comes to his senses. He should just surrender because the warrant is valid, and it will stay that way for a lifetime. As long as he doesn’t surrender to the law, this case won’t be dismissed.

Torre told reporters in another interview, “Magpapaguran muna kami dito. Parang laro ng mga bata — taguan, habulan. Hindi kami aalis. Walang magpu-pullout nang wala siya.”

(We’ll tire ourselves out here first. It’s like a children’s game – hide and seek, tag. We’re not leaving. No one’s pulling out until we have him.)

Another contingent of police officers entered the KOJC compound on Saturday night to allow some of their colleagues to take a much-needed rest, as Torre ordered another round of searches that evening.

Detected heartbeat

Senator Ronald dela Rosa, who visited to check the police operations, said Torre informed him that the police had no plans to call off the search anytime soon, and that authorities had detected a “heartbeat” underground using a specialized detector.

Police said these detectors, typically used in search and rescue operations, are capable of detecting movements up to 20 meters below ground and behind concrete walls.

Dela Rosa, who led the Philippine National Police (PNP) during the early years of the Duterte administration, said he advised Torre to continue the search and finish it as soon as possible because “they cannot stay here forever.” 

He said the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs would investigate the recent police operation at the KOJC compound, expressing concern over reports that authorities prevented members of the religious group from entering or leaving the property.

“This is their property. This is not government property. You cannot prohibit them from going inside or leaving. That’s in our Constitution – freedom of abode, freedom of movement,” Dela Rosa said in a video posted by Davao Today.

He said his advice to Quiboloy was just to turn himself in to authorities “kasi meron naman talagang warrant galing sa korte (because there is really a court-issued warrant).”

“We cannot hide forever at saka kawawa naman ang mga tao natin dito na nagsasakripisyo dahil sa kakahanap sa kaniya. ‘Yun lang naman ang sa akin. Kung ayaw niya, wala tayong magagawa,” dela Rosa said.

(It’s unfortunate for the people here who are sacrificing because they are searching for him. That’s just me. If he doesn’t want to, then there’s nothing we can do.)

Reign of terror?

Former president Rodrigo Duterte and his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, have taken to lobbing brickbats at President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., accusing his administration of trampling on the rights of KOJC members under a so-called “reign of fear and terror,” an ironic echo of the very charges that were hurled at them when they held the reins of power.

The younger Duterte said she suspected that the use of “extraordinary force” in an effort to arrest Quiboloy had political undertones given that the controversial preacher is a known supporter of her family.

“Kaya nais ko ring humingi ng kapatawaran sa lahat ng miyembro, deboto at bumubuo ng Kingdom of Jesus Christ, sa paghikayat at pakiusap ko sa inyong iboto si Bongbong Marcos Jr. noong 2022. Nawa’y mapatawad ninyo ako,” read part of Sara’s statement on Sunday, August 25.

(I also want to ask for forgiveness from all the members, devotees, and supporters of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ for encouraging and pleading with you to vote for Bongbong Marcos Jr. in 2022. I hope you can forgive me.)

She added: “You deserve better. Filipinos deserve better.”

The elder Duterte, meanwhile, said the police, under Torre, violated the rights of citizens, saying KOJC members were “victims of political harassment, persecution, violence and abuse of authority.”

He said, “Again, let us ask this administration how it can guarantee the preservation of the constitutional rights of our fellow Filipinos when even the most fundamental of these rights are being blatantly violated?”

Multiple searches

Quiboloy’s lawyer, Israelito Torreon, told reporters on Saturday afternoon that Torre’s group already searched all buildings in the property at least thrice already, and the KOJC’s school, the Jose Maria College (JMC), seven times. In every instance, he said, the police came up empty-handed.

Torreon has protested the police’s continued presence on the KOJC property, asserting that it was an illegal operation that was only allowed by them because Torre was forcing the issue and they did not want trouble. He claimed the only document presented was an alias warrant of arrest, which should not have been confused with a court-issued search warrant.

According to Torreon, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) had already certified that it served the same arrest warrant at the KOJC property in early August.

Before Dela Rosa arrived, Torreon had asked the police to leave the property, as they had already searched all the buildings. However, the general explained that their work was not yet complete and that they had covered only a fraction of the vast KOJC property.

Condolences and context

The KOJC accused the police of using “excessive force” during the Saturday operation, claiming that one person suffered cardiac arrest and several others were hospitalized, apparently as a result of trauma. Torreon told reporters that at least 16 people, including four children, passed out.

The PNP-Davao Region, in a statement, confirmed the death of 51-year-old Edwin Cababat, a KOJC member assigned to man a watchtower in the compound, but maintained that his death “is not related to the ongoing implementation of the warrant of arrest.”

Davao Region police spokesperson Catherine Dela Rey said Cababat, who had underlying health conditions, had been keeping watch at the back of the KOJC compound for days without sleep.

Police said Cababat was rushed to the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) around 5:56 am, but was pronounced dead on arrival by Dr. Tyrone Troi Javier.

“[The Police Regional Office] expresses deep condolences regarding Mr. Cababat’s passing, and emphasizes that the police were simply fulfilling their duty in executing the warrant of arrest for Pastor Quiboloy, who has been evading law enforcement. We urge the public to understand the context of this situation and the efforts made by law enforcement to uphold the law,” read part of the police’s statement. – Rappler.com