The Philippine National Police (PNP) wants to avoid another clash with devout Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) followers should it become necessary for officers to storm the religious movement’s sprawling Davao City compound to arrest its leader, Pastor Apollo Quiboloy.
During a radio interview on Friday, PNP spokesperson, Police Colonel Jean Fajardo said that they are weighing their options on how to arrest Pastor Quiboloy after a previous attempt last June 10 led to a physical and verbal encounter between PNP raiding team and KOJC members.
“It’s not that simple. If you remember, when the KOJC compound in Davao was first entered on June 10, there was tension,” she explained over TeleRadyo Serbisyo.
She said searching for Quiboloy inside the KOJC compound promises to be a long and painstaking mission because of the sheer size of the estate.
“It will take hours if not days to really search that huge compound, you have to think carefully. This time around, we want to make sure that what happened on June 10 will not happen again,” she said.
She reiterated the PNP’s appeal to Quiboloy to siply surrender peacefully and avoid violence.
Police Brigadier General Nicolas Torre III, Police Regional Office-Davao chief, earlier said that Quiboloy is still holed up inside the 30-hectare KOJC compound in Barangay Buhangin where he hides behind scores of devoted followers.
The religious leader stands accused of sexual abuse and human trafficking and has a P10 million bounty for his arrest.
Meanwhile, the PNP virtually confirmed the existence of a network of underground tunnels inside the KOJC compound, calling it an “open secret” in Davao City.
Fajardo said that this was one of the factors that they are considering when planning the serving of the warrant of arrest against Quiboloy, who is believed to be hiding somewhere within the sprawling compound.
“I think it’s an open secret,” Fajardo said of the reported tunnels inside the compound.
For his part, Torres pointed out that there is an aircraft hangar for Quiboloy’s private jet and helicopter at the compound that he could use to escape.
One of Quiboloy’s helicopters was even recently active, but police then alerted the airport authorities, according to the regional police chief.
When questioned, the pilots of the embattled religious leader told the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) that they were only “warming up” the helicopter.
As this developed, the Court of Appeals ordered a freeze on missing pastor’s assets, which includes his aircraft.
This has prompted authorities to “closely monitor the movement of Quiboloy’s air assets.”
Last June 10, a 100-strong PNP raiding team stormed the KOJC compound to serve the warrants of arrest against Quiboloy and others, but devout members managed to thwart their entry.
