Police are closing in on fugitive pastor Apollo Quiboloy, the Police Regional Office in Davao Region (PRO-11) announced Tuesday.
“If we arrest him, Filipinos will know they can trust us. We are almost there. Let’s do it together,” PRO-11 Director Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III said in a press briefing here.
“We are really hell bent on bringing him to justice…We will not stop until he surrenders. And he has no right to demand anything. Who is he? Is he above the law?,” said Torre.
Torre said information from a tipster led to the discovery of new rooms, including one believed to belong to Quiboloy, but they were all empty.
“It was a beautiful room with clothes and shoes that fit him. It was surrounded by rooms occupied by women, based on what we found there,” he added.
At the request of KOJC members, Torre brought 60 female cops before entering the rooms.
“All possible passages or tunnels in the entire compound are being monitored. We are now focused on the areas that our information suggests is what we are looking for,” he added.
Torre had said it would take a minimum of one month for the police to comb through the 30-hectare KOJC compound.
“That is not even sure because at the end of the day, we can even say after a year with this kind of resistance they they have,” he added.
Earlier on, Police Brigadier General Roderick Alba, acting director of the PNP Police Community Relations, brushed aside Vice President Sara Duterte’s comment that Quiboloy had already left the KOJC compound and was already “in heaven.”
“We respect the opinion of our VP but our Task Force Commander believes that there is existing information that the subject of the arrest warrant is positive in the area,” Alba said in an interview last Monday.
Torre acknowledged the challenges in pursuing Quiboloy, noting that law enforcers have faced backlash and personal attacks.
“They have called me names, and I know you’ve received hate comments and messages as well. What saddens me is that my family has been targeted by fake accounts and trolls,” he said.
He urged police officers to remain committed to their duty of protecting the public and upholding justice.
“We are not the police feared by the people. We are here to protect them and ensure justice will be served,” Torre said.
In a separate press briefing, KOJC chief legal counsel Israelito Torreon accused the Philippine National Police of intrusive search.
“The police do not want to leave the area in the Bible school where the private quarters of the girls are situated,” Torreon said, adding that they suspect the police are digging in their basement.
