Around 100 police from two special battalions stormed properties associated with fugitive televangelist and Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) leader Apollo Quiboloy on Monday dawn to serve arrest warrants against him and five of his co-accused.
The operation at the KOJC Compound in Barangay Buhangin, Davao City and four other properties of Quiboloy in the province came three weeks after at least 35 members of the Davao City Police Office were relieved from their posts.
“Our request is for all of us to remain calm. Your police officers are there for the official discharge of their duties. Our police have no intention of causing any harm or disorder,” PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said.
“I also want to take this opportunity to once again appeal to Pastor Quiboloy and the other accused to avoid situations like this. I hope they will surrender and face the charges filed against them so they can have the opportunity to address these complaints,” Fajardo added.
Tensions rose at the Buhangin compound after supporters of Quiboloy formed a human barricade to prevent the police from entering the compound and serving the warrants against the pastor and his co-accused: Jackielyn W. Roy, Cresente Canada, Paulene Canada, Ingrid Canada, and Sylvia Cemañes.
“We are living here peacefully. This is our home. We will not allow this,” yelled a guy using a megaphone in a video posted online by ABS-CBN News.
An arrest warrant was issued against Quiboloy and his co-accused by the Davao City Regional Trial Court on April 1 over alleged violations of the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act.
A Pasig City Court likewise issued an arrest warrant against Quiboloy and the five others over alleged violation of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act.
Police Regional Office 11 spokesperson Maj. Catherine Dela Rey said the arrest warrants were served at around 4 in the morning even if Quiboloy and his co-accused were not found in the area.
“The PNP served three warrants of arrest against Quiboloy and five others issued by RTC of Davao for acts of child abuse, other sexual abuse and the warrants issued by the Pasig court for violation of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act,” Dela Rey said.
“There is no indication so far that Pastor Quiboloy has already left the country because there is no confirmation yet from the Bureau of Immigration. The mere fact that they are simultaneously implementing warrants of arrest is an indication that we believe that he is still here in the country,” Fajardo added.
Quiboloy also has a standing warrant of arrest from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for alleged frauds in the United States.
Quiboloy, a self-proclaimed “Son of God” and ally of former President Rodrigo Duterte, was charged by the US Justice Department in 2021 with sex-trafficking of girls and women aged 12 to 25 to work as personal assistants or “pastorals” who were allegedly required to have sex with him.
Quiboloy earlier said he wanted a written guarantee from the government that “there will be no American interference and no extraordinary rendition” in the case if he surrenders to face charges in the Philippines.
“Unless you give me the guarantee I’m looking for, you won’t see me. Go ahead and hunt me down,” Quiboloy said in a voice clip posted on the YouTube channel of his church’s television network Sonshine Media.
“I’d rather die at the hands of the Filipinos, for my blood to spill here in my country, than to die at the hands of the American authorities who are overseas, in their country,” he said.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated story. Originally posted with the headline “PNP storms Quiboloy properties in Davao City.”