40%-50% of KOJC compound searched -PNP

Around 40% to 50% of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) compound in Davao City has been searched but Pastor Apollo Quiboloy has still not been found, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said Friday.

In a press briefing, PNP spokesperson Police Colonel Jean Fajardo said the information came from Police Regional Office (PRO) 11 chief Police Brigadier General Nicolas Torre III.

“According to [Torre], more or less nasa around close to 40% to 50% pa lamang yung nai-inspect sa kabuuan. Remember this is more than 30 hectares. May mga buildings pa po silang hindi nai-inspect,” Fajardo said.

(According to Torre around 40% to 50% of the total area has been inspected. Remember this is more than 30 hectares. There are still buildings that have yet to be inspected.)

“Although, yung kanilang particular focus right now ay meron po. Particularly, in areas na meron po tayong nade-detect na human life underground,” she added.

(Although, they have a focus right now, particularly, in areas where we detected human life underground.)

According to Fajardo, the police were methodically inspecting these facilities because they were built to withstand man-made and even natural disasters.

“We are looking at an underground facility made of thick stones, thick metals, at napakatigas po niyang mga yan,” she said.

“So ganoon po yung hinaharap natin na difficulty, why it's really taking time to really penetrate this underground facility and to locate yung mga possible ingress and egress dito sa mga underground facility,” she added.

(So that's the difficulty we face. This is why it is taking time to penetrate this underground facility and to locate the possible ingress and egress spots.)

However, Pastor Apollo Quiboloy's lead counsel Atty. Israelito Torreon told GMA News Online that the PNP had "completed their search last August 24, 2024 at around 9:24 a.m. when their men had to lie down in exhaustion in the KOJC lawns and gardens."

Torreon added, "[The PNP began its search] on August 24 at 5 a.m. armed only with a single warrant of arrest against Sylvia Cemanes whose address is in Pasig City." 

When he reminded General Torre that the "lone warrant of arrest" could not justify a search in Davao City and that there was a certification from the NBI that they had searched the compound, the PRO 11 commander simply brushed aside these arguments by declaring that all complaints about the search should be coursed through the courts and not in the street. 

"Note that an arrest warrant can never be used as a legal justification to conduct an unbridled and random and omnibus search over the properties owned by another entity," said Torreon. "It cannot likewise be used as a legal subterfuge to practically convert the said property into a police garrison and prevent the very owners of said property access to its structures and buildings.

"We pray, therefore, that the PNP should stop their illegal occupation of the KOJC premises and leave immediately. Basic decency and Justice demand this! "

Meanwhile, KOJC Minister Carlo Catiil had denied the existence of supposed "secret hallways" inside their compound's cathedral.

"Sa cathedral daw may nadiskubre na lagusan... secret passage. Pag ganyan mo, maganda na lounge. Hindi po. Kabit lang po yun, sir. Cathedral eto sir - wall yan, stage, backstage po yan, pahingahan. Then papasok ka dito, yan na po yung stage namin for service of worship," he said in a report by GMA Regional TV One Mindanao's Kent Abrigana.

(They said a tunnel was discovered in the cathedral - a secret passage. But what it is is a beautiful lounge. It is just an extension, backstage, a resting place. When you enter there, that's our stage for worship.)

"Hindi po yun, wala pong lagusan diyan sir. Dinugtong lang po yung picture. Ibang picture po yung ginamit, sino po yung fake news? Ibang picture ginamit, basement po yun at dinugtong yung maganda po na lounge. At ito na, sir parang pangit po sir," he added.

(There is no tunnel there. The picture was edited. A different picture was used. It is fake news. A different picture was used, it was the basement, and the beautiful lounge was edited.)

According to Fajardo, the PNP had been operating in the KOJC compound for seven days to arrest Quiboloy.

Arrest warrants were issued by Davao and Pasig courts against Quiboloy and others for alleged violation of the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act as well as qualified human trafficking.

Quiboloy went into hiding shortly after the Senate issued an arrest order against him for refusing to attend the chamber's hearings.

He has also been indicted by a federal grand jury in the US District Court for the Central District of California for conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion and sex trafficking of children; sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion; conspiracy; and bulk cash smuggling.

Quiboloy’s camp has repeatedly denied the allegations against him. — Vince Angelo Ferreras/DVM, GMA Integrated News