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Palace: 'The law must take its course' in cases vs Quiboloy

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Katrina Domingo

ABS-CBN News

<p>MANILA — Police operations to find televangelist Apollo Quiboloy are meant to let the law take its course in the abuse and trafficking cases against him, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said on Monday amid allegations of political motivations.</p><p>Vice President Sara Duterte and former President Rodrigo Duterte were among those who decried the number of police deployed to search the Kingdom of Jesus Christ’s (KOJC) 30-hectare compound in Davao City to serve warrants.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/8/25/vp-duterte-condemns-abuse-of-power-in-pnp-search-of-quiboloy-compound-826">READ: VP Duterte condemns ‘abuse of power’ in PNP search of Quiboloy compound</a></div><p>“Wag nilang sabihing politically motivated kasi hindi naman totoo &#x27;yan,” Bersamin told reporters in a chance interview.</p><p>(They shouldn&#x27;t say it is politically motivated because that is not true)</p><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display:flex;max-width:550px;width:100%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1827887372651860352&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fnews-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com%2F%23%2Fworkspace%2Fmonitoring%3Fitem%3Durn%3Anewsml%3Anews-workbench-api.abs-cbn.com%3A2024-08-26T04%3A46%3A36.339280%3A33dba4e0-3977-4f65-9871-199e3975b7b7%26action%3Dedit&amp;sessionId=be95c16a4cd80a94dae79a65070e7ec171131b52&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&amp;width=550px" style="position:static;visibility:visible;width:550px;height:672px;display:block;flex-grow:1" data-tweet-id="1827887372651860352"></iframe></div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8"></script><p>KOJC members on Sunday night blocked a highway in Davao City in a &quot;prayer rally&quot; where they voiced support for Quiboloy and the Dutertes and condemnation of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/regions/2024/8/25/quiboloy-supporters-block-national-highway-in-davao-hold-protest-731">RELATED: Quiboloy supporters block national highway in Davao, hold protest </a></div><p>“The law must take its course. He is answerable to the law. The law must take its course. Mayroon naman process diyan (There is a process for that),” Bersamin, a former chief justice, said.</p><p>Apart from the alleged political motivations in the search for Quiboloy, his supporters and followers have also alleged the use of excessive force by police at the KOJC compound.</p><p>In an online exchange with ABS-CBN News, Human Rights Watch senior researcher Carlos Conde acknowledged that authorities are enforcing a legitimate warrant but said that law enforcers must exercise maximum tolerance, especially given tension at the religious group&#x27;s compound.</p><p>&quot;We may not agree with KOJC...but they have rights and that should be paramount , and ensuring that those rights are respected should be paramount,&quot; Conde said.</p><div><strong>CASES IN DAVAO CITY, PASIG</strong></div><p>Courts in Davao City and in Pasig in April issued warrants of arrest for Quiboloy and others facing the trafficking and abuse cases. Quiboloy, whom the government considers a fugitive, has been in hiding since.</p><p>His lawyers claim the accusations against him are recycled and were made by disgruntled former members of KOJC. </p><p>He has also claimed without evidence that the government and the US are conspiring against him and that he is under threat of &quot;extraordinary rendition&quot; — essentially state-backed kidnapping.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/7/9/quiboloy-lawyer-says-can-t-blame-fugitive-pastor-for-evading-courts-935">READ: Quiboloy lawyer says &#x27;can&#x27;t blame&#x27; fugitive pastor for evading courts</a></div><div><strong>WANTED IN THE US</strong></div><p>Quiboloy has been on the wanted list of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States “for his alleged participation in a labor trafficking scheme that brought church members to the United States via fraudulently obtained visas.”</p><p>The pastor has also “forced the members to solicit donations for a bogus charity… to finance church operations and the lavish lifestyles of its leaders,” according to information on the FBI’s website.</p><p>“Members who proved successful at soliciting for the church allegedly were forced to enter into sham marriages or obtain fraudulent student visas to continue soliciting in the United States year-round,” it read.</p><p>In November 2021, Quiboloy was indicted by a federal grand jury in the United States District Court for the Central District of California and a federal warrant has since been issued for his arrest.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/8/8/ca-freezes-quiboloy-and-kojc-bank-accounts-properties-1155">RELATED: CA freezes Quiboloy and KOJC bank accounts, properties<br/></a></div><p>The Philippine National Police (PNP) has tried to serve warrants on Quiboloy multiple times, but members of the KOJC have been rallying against these attempts, saying that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration is only trying to persecute the pastor due to his ties to the Duterte family.</p><p>Last week, a KOJC member died of a heart attack while police were searching the religious group&#x27;s sprawling compound in Duterte bailiwick Davao City.</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ljMJDefW_og?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><br/></div>

<p>MANILA — Police operations to find televangelist Apollo Quiboloy are meant to let the law take its course in the abuse and trafficking cases against him, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said on Monday amid allegations of political motivations.</p>

MANILA — Police operations to find televangelist Apollo Quiboloy are meant to let the law take its course in the abuse and trafficking cases against him, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said on Monday amid allegations of political motivations.