PNP: He stays in Camp Crame

BY ASHZEL HACHERO and VICTOR REYES

A Quezon City court has ordered the transfer in custody of Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) founder Apollo Quiboloy and four of his co-accused from the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame to the Quezon City jail.

Quiboloy and his co-accused are facing charges for violation of RA 7610, or the Special Protection of Children against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act, before the Quezon City RTC Branch 106, which has issued an order for their arrest.

Child abuse is a bailable offense.

In a one-page order dated September 9, Presiding Judge Noel Parel tasked the chief of the PNP Headquarters Support Service to “transfer and commit’ Quiboloy and Cresente Canada to the new city jail in Payatas Road in Barangay Bagong Silangan.

Quiboloy’s three female co-accused – Ingrid Canada, Sylvia Cemanes and Jackielyn Roy – were ordered to be transferred to the Quezon City Jail – female dormitory in Camp Karingal, the headquarters of the Quezon City Police District.

The court said Quiboloy and his co-accused should be “transferred immediately” upon receipt by the PNP of the order.

The court also directed the jail wardens of the two Quezon City jail facilities to present Quiboloy and the other accused before its sala on September 13, 2024 at 8:30 a.m. for their arraignment and pre-trial via video conference hearing.

But PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo, in a press briefing, said Quiboloy and his subordinates will remain under police custody and will continue to be detained at Camp Crame, citing a commitment order from a Pasig trial court where a separate complaint of qualified human trafficking has also been filed against the accused.

Fajardo did not answer questions when the Pasig City court issued the commitment order.

Fajardo said the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) is due to submit a pleading before the Quezon City court to inform it about the commitment order issued by the Pasig court.

“It will inform the (QC) court that the RTC (of) Pasig issued an order directing the PNP to retain the custody of these individuals. Their cases before (the) Pasig (court) are non bailable,” she said, adding: “We want to avoid that risk of the PNP losing control over them in the event that they are transferred to the QC jail and they post bail.”

She also said that the CIDG has coordinated with government prosecutors since “they (prosecutors) will be filing the necessary pleading to request the court for the PNP to retain custody (of Quiboloy and the other accused).”

Fajardo showed an order from the Pasig City court likewise directing the PNP to produce Quiboloy before the court at 8:30 a.m. of September 13 for their arraignment and pre-trial, the same date and time of the QC court arraignment and pre-trial.

Fajardo said the CIDG will coordinate with the two courts to settle the scheduling problem.

MILITARY CUSTODY

The Armed Forces yesterday said it is open to having Quiboloy under its custody even as DND Legal and Legislative Affairs chief Erik Lawrence Dy formally filed a formal motion before the Pasig City court opposing the Quiboloy camp’s motion to transfer the pastor to military custody.

Quboiloy’s laywer, Israelito Torreon, has asked the Pasig RTC to transfer the custody of Quiboloy to the Armed Forces, citing security concerns.

In formally opposing the Quiboloy camp’s motion, Dy said: “The allegations against the accused are heinous crimes that are under the jurisdiction of our civilian courts. It is just proper that custody of the accused remain with the law enforcement agencies, not with the military.”

“Our AFP detention facilities are for military officers and personnel charged or convicted of service-related offenses under the jurisdiction of the general courts martial,” he also said, stressing that Quiboloy and his co-accused are not members of the AFP and the charges against them are not under the jurisdiction of military tribunal.

DND spokesman Arsenio Andolong has earlier said military facilities are “subject to strict operational security protocols, thus, the AFP is not the proper agency to have custody of suspects in criminal cases.”

AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla told a press briefing at Camp Aguinaldo: “We respect whatever will come out from (the court proceedings).”

Padilla said the AFP is “prepared” to take over custody of the KOJC founder as the military has taken into its custody high-profile detainees in the past.

In a later message, Padilla said: “The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will fully adhere to the results of court proceedings regarding the Quiboloy case.”

Nevertheless, Padilla said the AFP supports the statement of the defense department that it is against the transfer of Quiboloy to military custody.

BJMP

The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) said it has already readied the detention cells of Quiboloy and his co-accused in Quezon City.

“As of this time, the BJMP is just on standby and on alert,” said BJMP spokesman Chief Inspector Jayrex Bustinera said, adding: “We’ve already inspected our facilities.”

“That’s the order of the chief BJMP (Jail Director Ruel Rivera), and of course it is the guidance of the DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government) secretary that there should be no special treatment.”

He said the BJMP has a policy against special treatment. “We are not actually doing that (giving of VIP treatment),” he said.

The QC jail male dormitory is currently housing 4,200 inmates. On the other hand, the female dormitory has around 600 inmates.

REWARD

Fajardo said the PNP is now discussing the handover of the reward that were raised for the capture of the accused – P10 million for Quiboloy and P1 million each for the other accused.

“We cannot really reveal who they are (informants) or how many because their security will be at risk. We are discussing who are entitled to receive the reward,” she said.

“Definitely, the P10 million reward for Pastor Quiboloy and P1 million each for the four others will be given to the informants, but we cannot identify them for obvious reasons, their security is at stake,” she also said.

Aside from the two cases pending before the QC and Pasig trial courts, Quiboloy has also been indicted by a California court in 2021 for allegedly conspiring to engage in sex trafficking and has an active arrest warrant in the US issued on November 10, 2021, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The Senate has also issued an arrest warrant against the religious leader for his refusal to cooperate with the chamber’s investigation into complaints of sexual and child abuse and human trafficking made by former members of the KOJC.

He has denied all the allegations but went into hiding.

More than 2,000 police operatives swooped down at the 30-hectare KOJC compound in Davao City last August 24 to search for Quiboloy and his co-accused. The manhunt continued for more than two weeks before the pastor and his cohorts came out of hiding last Sunday.