Socorro members started living in mountain after 2019 earthquake —Surigao del Norte gov

The members of an organization accused of committing abuse against minors in Socorro town started living in the mountain after an earthquake in 2019, Surigao del Norte Governor Robert Lyndon Barbers said Wednesday.

Interviewed on Dobol B TV, Barbers said Socorro Bayanihan Services started as a legitimate people’s organization that exercises “bayanihan,” which refers to the communal effort to help each other.

“Before naming them kulto (a cult), they are a legitimate people’s organization,” he said.

“Iyong 2017, 7 point something [magnitude] yata iyon. Meron pa sa area ng Siargao na tumama 5.8 noong February 2019. Noong February 2019, iyon po iyong nag-umpisa sila na hinay-hinay na nagsi-akyatan po ang mga miyembro” he added.

(In 2017, the area was hit by I guess a 7 point something magnitude earthquake. Another 5.8 magnitude earthquake hit the Siargao area in February 2019. That's when the members started living in the mountain.)

According to Barbers, his office first received a complaint against the group from an employee of the provincial government in the early part of the year.

The employee said she left the group and looked for work. After some weeks, she returned to the mountain to pick up her husband but he was already married to another person.

Due to this and more reports of abuse, Barbers said he called for an investigation which led to the filing of cases by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) against some involved individuals.

For some time, Barbers said the provincial capitol was taking care of eight minors and other adult members who were victims of alleged abuse in the supposed cult.

Barbers said he met the group’s leader Jey Rence B. Quilario or Senior Agila, allegedly called the "Messiah," in a relief operation after Typhoon Odette in December 2021.

He said his first impression of Quilario was that he was young. The governor also wondered how the young man was able to run the group with a membership of around 4,000.

Barbers said he encountered the Socorro Bayanihan Services when he was a governor around 2001 and 2007. The then head of the group, Nena Taruc or Mama Nena, just transferred the leadership to Quilario.

On Tuesday, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said the NBI- Caraga has filed criminal complaints against some members of the group in connection with the alleged abuse of minors as early as June.

Justice spokesperson Atty. Mico Clavano said NBI-Caraga filed the following complaints against 13 individuals before the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor in Surigao del Norte:

• Violation of Section 4, in relation to Section 6, otherwise known as qualified trafficking, under Republic Act 9208, otherwise known as the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act;
• Kidnapping and serious illegal detention as defined and legalized under Article 267 of the Revised Penal Code;
• Violation of RA 11596, otherwise known as an act prohibiting the practice of child marriage and imposing penalties for violations thereof; and
• Violation of RA 7610, otherwise known as the Special Protection of Children Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act.

Senator Risa Hontiveros urged the Senate committee on women, children, family relations, and gender equality to probe in aid of legislation the alleged abuses committed by the supposed cult.

In proposed Senate Resolution No. 797 dated September 18, Hontiveros said the Senate received “alarming” reports of alleged rape, sexual abuse, forced labor, and forced marriage of minors in the group Socorro Bayanihan Services, Inc. (SBSI).

The group is prepared to face investigations, its vice president Mamerto Galanida said.

Denying the allegations, Galanida, who was a three-term mayor of Socorro, said they would await personnel from the Department of the Interior and Local Government to come and investigate the claim.

“Handang-handa kami. In fact, we’re expecting the secretary of Secretary [Benhur] Abalos to come. Wala namang problema,” he said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview.

(We are ready. In fact, we're expecting the secretary of Secretary Benhur Abalos to come. There’s no problem with that.)

Galanida called as “fabricated lies” allegations that their organization is involved with drugs and harming children.—AOL, GMA Integrated News