POLICE Regional Office XI Director Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III is determined to continue the operation inside the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) compound until they find Pastor Apollo Quiboloy and four other co-accused.
But, KOJC legal counsel Atty. Israelito Torreon appealed to the PNP to pull out their operation inside the compound, so the students can continue their classes and normalize the daily lives of the KOJC members.
Following the third Senate hearing on the matter, Torre told reporters, “We will re-strategize. I’m energized. All those instances of obstruction of justice that we overlooked before, we will now act on them.”
He added, “There will be more arrests,” and stated that future searches will be conducted on their terms. “We will arrest anybody who obstructs the job of the policemen.”
When asked about Atty. Torreon’s statement that some police forces had returned to the compound, Torre confirmed, “Yes, of course, no question about that. Earlier, the media was able to enter.” He added that the place remains open, but they are continuously exploring the area. “We will cordon it again as the need arises.”
Regarding an alleged agreement on a proton relic, Torre said, “That’s a tricky question… We cannot surrender the entire operation just because of the instrument Atty. Torreon chose.”
When asked if he was afraid of the challenge, Torre replied, “We have a lot of instruments and will not allow ourselves to be tricked into that corner by your lawyer and debunk all other equipment. That’s why we brought more redundancy.”
Torre added, “We have no agreement regarding that matter. Only one thing should be agreed upon here: you present Apollo Quiboloy. That’s very simple; that will be the end of everything.”
“It’s not about the tunnel; it’s about a single instrument which I believe is canalizing us and limiting us considering that we have brought in a lot of instruments that they don’t want us to use. I don’t think that’s fair, or that’s wise, and again, another demonstration of them insisting on their way,” he said, adding that this will last until Quiboloy is arrested.
Addressing calls for justice for Apollo Quiboloy, Torre questioned, “Where are you looking for that justice, on the streets? That’s not possible. When you say justice for Apollo Quiboloy, it means that justice is the only one here in the Philippines, it’s in the courts. And the first step to receiving justice is to submit to the court, and in this case, to surrender to the court. That’s it, there’s nothing else, just like any other Filipino.”
On excavation activities
When asked if the police would do more digging, Torre said, “As the need arises, we will do whatever it takes, we will do whatever is needed to catch Apollo Quiboloy in that compound.”
He added, “As the need arises, the diggings that I mentioned earlier, because we saw we were off by two feet, maybe we will do it two feet, three feet to the left of the wall that we saw.”
On Quiboloy’s Location
When asked how sure they are if Quiboloy is still inside the compound, Torre said, “We are… we have information that states otherwise. All the information that we have right now says he’s there inside.”
On the recommendation to remove all KOJC members from the compound during the operation, he said, “That is our recommendation. We have ways to enforce that if the need arises. If there’s obstruction of justice, we will arrest them,” adding that “the arresting officers will work harder.”
He further stated that the national office has no directive yet regarding the matter. “It’s all my call,” adding that the operation will continue tonight (Friday).
On access inside
He said, “It will always be dictated by the operational needs and conditions and the changes that will come over.”
On KOJC’s calls for access to the Cathedral and JMC, he said, “Access… it’s not just dramatics. Up to this point, if you go to the Cathedral, you will see their lawyers there, guarding everything we do. And as for the dramatics of preventing the media, you know the answers. When you ask me, the media is welcome in KOJC every day. However, that is not a decision that I can make, considering that it is a private entity. We, the police, can enter because we are armed with a search warrant, and the rules of court allow us to break into this compound, into these enclosures, into these areas. However, your media do not have that. So you can take the challenge of the KOJC that they are saying that you are welcome to go in there.”
“So go in there and go inside, roam around, investigate the police in there, take videos of the police there in the innermost sanctum of KOJC, and let’s see if you can do it if they will allow it,” he added.
On appeal to halt the operation
When asked if the Senate hearing was useless, Torre said, “There is value. We are very thankful for the initiative of the Senate in calling this hearing. It allowed us to air our side, which for the past two weeks has not been heard because there are ethical restraints, there are ethical legal restraints, and now we’re able to freely show you what challenges we’re facing every day.”
“It’s not that it was useless. Of course, we consider the appeal of the good senator. It’s an input in the way we look forward to the support of the operation,” he added.
“It’s tiring but it is also a relief for us to be able to air our side to the media and of course to the Senate,” Torre said.
When asked if he was pressured by the repeated appeal of the three senators to pull out the police inside the KOJC compound, Torre said, “The pressure is always there, the effect is always there. We have to consider what they are saying, even though it may run against the operational procedures and it may run against our sworn duties. There is [pressure].”
Torreon presents his side
Meanwhile, Torreon thanked the senators for the public hearing.
“We would like to begin by quoting people vs Arouta where the Supreme Court said that it is not allowed in a free society to enforce a law or violate a law rather, enforce another especially if the law violated is the constitution itself,” Torreon said.
“In this case, your honor, from the get-go, when General Torre allegedly served the warrant of arrest we already informed him that the warrant he was bringing was only one that of a person in the name of Sylvia Cemanes with an address in Pasig City. We felt that if he was informed that if he was given that information he would adjust and look for other copies of the warrant, we know that he will be served with other copies of the warrant but until now, there is no service, the warrant of arrest was used to destroy the rights of individuals, tear gases were used and despite the clear evidence to the PNP denies this,” Torreon further stated.
“Freedom of religion, the Cathedral itself has been denied usage to the members, the warrants of arrest has likewise been used as a license to conduct random as well as omnibus search to all the properties in the KOJC compound, it has likewise been used as a license to turned property into a police garrison, were members cannot anymore freely use the school as well as the Cathedral, as well as the numerous rooms, located therein,” he added.
As of this writing, it has been 16 days already since the police entered the compound of the KOJC on Aug. 24 to serve the warrant of arrest against Pastor Quiboloy and four other co-accused but Quiboloy has not been arrested.
