SEARCHING the 30-hectare Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KoJC) compound in Davao City where the evangelist Apollo Quiboloy could be hiding may take days, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Friday.
In a press briefing at Camp Crame, PNP spokesman Col. Jean Fajardo said among the challenges faced by the police in looking for Quiboloy are the reported tunnels inside the religious group's property.
Quiboloy is wanted for child and sexual abuse and human trafficking.
"I think it's an open secret. When the structure was under construction, some videos on YouTube showed these. If we notice, when we tried to serve the warrant of arrest, there was a deliberate attempt to derail, delay the service of warrant," Fajardo said in Filipino.
She said sirens were heard inside the compound when the police first tried to search the property and arrest Quiboloy on June 10.
"I don't know if it is just a signal to anyone to give them the opportunity to hide or even escape," she said.
Fajardo said the PNP is studying the best approach in arresting Quiboloy without any violence, noting that the group previously used women and children as human shields in blocking the police.
Davao Police Regional Office chief BGen. Nicolas Torre III said Thursday that, based on intelligence monitoring, Quiboloy was still inside the KoJC compound.
Fajardo said the Court of Appeals' freeze order on known assets of Quiboloy would lessen his chances of evading the law.
In a resolution promulgated on August 6 but only made public on Thursday, the court said the freeze order covered at least 10 bank accounts, seven properties, five vehicles and an aircraft.
Under restraint are the bank accounts of the KoJC and the Swara Sug Media Corp., which operates the Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI).
Quiboloy heads the KoJC and proclaims himself as a "son of God."
Other assets ordered frozen were 27 bank accounts belonging to Paulene Canada, a co-accused in Quiboloy's qualified human trafficking cases; the bank accounts of Maria Dandan, Helen Panilag, Cresente Canada, Ingrid Canada, Sylvia Cemañes, Jackielyn Roy, Alona Santander, and Marlon Acobo; and 23 bank accounts of Children's Joy Foundation, a foster care center founded by the fugitive televangelist.
The court said it found reasonable ground linking the assets of Quiboloy "to unlawful activities and predicate crimes," including qualified human trafficking, sexual and child abuse, sex trafficking of children, fraud, conspiracy, marriage fraud, smuggling and money laundering.
It instructed banks and government agencies to provide information about the accounts and assets within 24 hours of receiving the freeze order.
"We appeal to Pastor Quiboloy to spare 'yung kanyang mga tagasuporta. Hindi ito laban ng PNP at lahat ng ahensya ng gobyerno sa KoJC. Ito ay implementation ng isang legal order na inissue ng korte para sa particular na isang tao. Hindi doon sa kanilang organization (This is not a battle between the PNP and all government agencies against the KoJC. This is an implementation of a legal order issued by the court to a particular person, not to their organization)," Fajardo said.
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