More cops, soldiers arrive in Davao to boost manhunt for Quiboloy

ILOILO, Philippines – A contingent of police personnel from Western Visayas has been deployed to Davao City to boost ongoing operations to capture fugitive doomsday preacher Apollo Quiboloy and four of his associates wanted on child abuse and trafficking charges. However, they represent only a fraction of the total number of law enforcers and soldiers sent to Davao for the manhunt.

Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesperson Colonel Jean Fajardo said on Tuesday, August 27, that more police troops arrived in Davao, the same day a local court issued a temporary protection order in favor of Quiboloy’s group. The police have maintained that the court order did not prevent it from pursuing the search for Quiboloy inside his 30-hectare property.

Fajardo told reporters in Camp Crame that the additional forces came from various regions, including Soccsksargen, Northern Mindanao, Caraga, and as far as Calabarzon.

Police-Western Visayas Director Brigadier General Jack Wanky said the augmentation forces include about 100 police personnel from Region VI, who were flown by a C-130 military plane on Tuesday.

The police personnel from Western Visayas, mostly from the Iloilo Provincial Police Office (IPPO) and Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO), were deployed to support the Civil Disturbance Management group in the Davao Region, according to Wanky.

He said the order to send troops to Davao came from PNP Chief General Rommel Francisco Marbil, who saw the need for more forces due to efforts by Quiboloy’s followers and supporters to stop the police operations at the vast Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) compound.

“I instructed our troops to maintain maximum tolerance, given that their assignment in Davao will involve crowd control,” Wanky said.

Fajardo said Marbil has been in Davao to oversee the manhunt for Quiboloy and to boost the morale of the police personnel on the ground.

“They’re on high morale. But we’ve been engaged in this operation since Saturday, and many of them are already tired and have sustained injuries,” she said, adding that the officers from other regions would provide relief.

The Davao-based Mindanao Times reported that the PNP has deployed at least 1,100 police personnel and four companies of soldiers from various regions to Davao City, with the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command on red alert since Sunday.

The Times report identified other regions contributing to the augmentation forces as the National Capital Region, Central Luzon, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). – Rappler.com