More than 200 neonatal and pediatric deaths occurred within the alleged cult called Socorro Bayanihan Services Inc.(SBSI) since its current leader Jay Rence Quilario took over the group.
Senator Risa Hontiveros disclosed during Tuesday’s resumption of a public hearing on the controversy.
Meanwhile, Senator Ronald Dela Rosa, chairman of the Senate Public Order and Illegal Drugs, said he had received a warrant of arrest against Quilario alias Senor Agila, the supposed cult based in Sitio Kapihan, Socorro town in Surigao del Norte. and its other members.
Hontiveros, chairperson on of the Committee on Women, Children, Elderly and Gender Equality, also said she learned that SBSI members were barred from seeking hospital care outside their camp.
Hontiveros and Dela Rosa, were spearheading the Senate probe on the illegal operations of the SBSI.
Randolph Balbarino, who had dissociated himself from the group, testified that his child born on December 14, 2020 died after they were prevented to take him to the hospital.
He pointed out seeking treatment outside Sitio Kapihan was banned because Quilario presented himself as a god and he was already with them.
However, Quilario vehemently denied there was such a rule in the cult, adding he was not even its leader at the time..
At this juncture, Dela Rosa reminded him that it was in 2019 when he called on residents to join them in Sitio Kapihan on the pretext that “the world is coming to an end” following a strong earthquake that jolted the province.
Balbarino further told the senators that Quilario also conducted internal examination by inserting his fingers on his wife’s sex organ to determine if she was due to give birth.
Hontiveros also presented a video of 79-year old Pedrito Angcog who was allegedly tortured by the Agilas, the private army of Quilario, because he was accused of ridiculing the current SBSI leader Mamerto Galanida.
Angcog recalled that sometime in an early morning of 2022, several men with long firearms barged into his home, fired shots, then tied a cord around his body.
Angcog was later brought to Galanida’s house, where he was further beaten up by one Pedoy Buntad, the Agilas chief.
“Dumaplis sa tenga ko ang dalawang bala, dalawang putok. Tapos ginapos ako sa mga kamay ng lubid patalikod. Masakit sa buong katawan ko … Pinatayo ako pero bago yun habang nakagapos ako na nakadapa, sinipa ako sa likod … Tapos inapakan pa ako sa likod habang nakagapos. (Two bullets grazed my ear. Two shots. Then they tied up my hands behind my back. They ordered me to stand up, but before that, while I was lying face down on the floor, they kicked and stepped on my back),” Angcog narrated his horrific ordeal.
Hontiveros said that Angcog’s revelation was another clear and convincing evidence of the “unacceptable abuse and exploitation” that members of SBSI experienced at the hands of their own leaders.
Hontiveros first filed Proposed Senate Resolution No. 797 to investigate the cases of rape, sexual abuse, forced labor, and child marriages perpetrated by the SBSI in their community of almost 4,000 people.
Dela Rosa said Quilario, along with three other cult officers, who were also cited in the arrest warrant issued by RTC Judicial Region 3, Dapa, Surigao del Norte, have been detained at the Senate detention facility after being cited of contempt for consistently lying in their testimonies.
In the Senate hearings on SBSI illegal activities, the four repeatedly denied there were forced marriages of minors within the cult.
Before being remanded to the custody of the law enforcers, Dela Rosa told the Senate sergeant-at-arms to coordinate with the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation regarding the custody issue.
Prior to their release from the Senate custody, Sen. Risa Hontiveros moved to lift the contempt charges against the four SBSI officers.
The three others SBSI officers are Mamerto Galanida, Janeth Ajoc and Karren Sanico.
The four, along with other cult members were initially charged with 21 cases of qualified trafficking in person, facilitation of child marriages, and solemnization of child marriages and child abuse.
“The days are numbered for those playing gods,” Hontiveros stressed, adding that Quilario and Galanida and their cohorts, if convicted, deserve to go to jail.
“The criminal activities the cult leaders carried out are beyond despicable. They preyed on the weak, abusing the most vulnerable members of their community, including women, children, and the elderly,” she noted,
“Bata man o matanda, walang pinipiling biktima itong mga lider ng kulto. Kailangan na nilang managot sa sankatutak na krimen na ginawa nila(Young or old, the cult leaders don’t choose their victims). It is with great relief that I welcome the Department of Justice’s recent filing of charges against the SBSI leaders. They must pay for the amount of sufferings that they inflicted on the people of Kapihan,” Hontiveros concluded.
As author of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act and the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, Hontiveros said she was pleased to see how the laws have been effectively enforced.
“I thank the Department of Justice for their expeditious investigation on the issue. It was only last September that I delivered my privilege speech exposing the cult’s vile and harmful practices, and less than two months later, the culprits are already facing charges in court and warrants of arrest have been issued against 13 individuals,” she said.
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