Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa on Friday said he is convinced that Socorro Bayanihan Services, Inc. (SBSI) is a “cult” and its leader, Jey Rence Quilario, is just a figurehead.
The Senate recently conducted a hearing on SBSI, which is allegedly involved in forced child marriages and other questionable practices.
Dela Rosa, chair of the Senate Comittee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs Committee, presided over the hearing spread over two days.
Quilario, known as “Senior Agila,” to followers, admitted he is the leader of SBSI, but insisted that he did not know why he was appointed by Rosalina Taruc, the founder of the group.
Despite being young and finishing only second year in high school, Quilario, 22, said he was elected president by the group members.
SBSI is based in Bgy. Kapihan town, Surigao del Norte.
Senator Risa Hontiveros and Dela Rosa both quizzed Quilario if another SBSI member, Mamerto Galanida — a former mayor and board member and a Department of Education (DepEd) official in Socorro — gave him orders and pieces of advice.
“With the way you speak, I cannot believe that you manage SBSI with 5,000 people and then, you are the leader,” Dela Rosa told Quilario.
Quilario maintained that he is innocent of the accusations and denied the testimonies of former SBSI members who were also at the hearing.
Three minors were present at the Senate hearing and narrated their harrowing ordeal which drove them to escape from the cult. One former member said she was only 12 years old when she was forced to marry an older member.
According to Dela Rosa, it’s clear that the group started as a legitimate people’s organization, which then slowly transformed into a cult.
He pointed out that based on the definition of a cult, there’s blind obedience and strong reverence to a single personality.
“He is just being used as a symbol. His alleged possession of divine powers is being used to command loyalty from the subjects.
SBSI and its leaders were accused of trafficking, kidnapping, sexually abusing children, training children as soldiers, and practicing child marriages.
Hontiveros meanwhile noted that Quilario has been officiating marriages and baptisms and gives punishments and daily orders.
“The cult is what forces community members to look the other way even when abuse and exploitation happen right in front of their eyes,” Hontiveros said
Quilario and other members of SBSI have remained detained at the Senate detention facility after they were cited in contempt for consistently lying.