‘Deployment strategy’: Fully armed SWAT personnel man checkpoint near KOJC compound

SWAT members directing traffic near the KOJC compound. Screen grab from SMNI News Channel

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 03 August) — Putting Special Weapons and Tactics Division personnel in full battle gear at a checkpoint near the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) compound is a “deployment strategy” that should not be misinterpreted, an official at the Police Regional Office – Region 11 told reporters Friday evening.

“We have strategies in our deployment and we cannot explain it all to you po. The important thing is we are doing [our] job and part of that is crime prevention activities and police visibility po,” PRO-11 spokesperson Major Catherine Dela Rey said.

SWAT members and other police special units mounted a checkpoint near the KOJC compound near Carlos P. Garcia Highway here, Friday evening.

KOJC is led by its fugitive founder Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, who is facing charges of qualified human trafficking and other crimes. He also refused to appear at a Senate committee hearing on similar allegations.

Dela Rey said that any police unit can be deployed for any police operations, including checkpoints.

“If one would put a negative meaning into it, then it would be negative. But if you will see it as one of the crime prevention activities, then you can appreciate it as the police is doing its job,” she said.

The checkpoint prompted KOJC-owned Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI) to do a roughly four-hour live coverage. They could be seen trying to interview SWAT members that were directing traffic but were ignored.

The checkpoint and the KOJC members’ rally near the highway caused traffic congestion that evening.

The live coverage showed police vehicles with license plates covered with cloth, with one of them bearing body number 297 from the Regional Mobile Force Battalion (RMFB).

“Kung SWAT na nag conduct checkpoint, mao na ila uniform…  Kung nag checkpoint lang sila, wala man na problem (If the SWAT conducts checkpoint, that’s their uniform…If they put up a checkpoint, there should be no problem with that),” Dela Rey said.

The SMNI website also reported on the event, saying the presence of SWAT officers was “causing great disturbance among KOJC missionaries and members, especially as armed authorities have already inflicted severe fear and trauma due to the June 10 Day of Infamy.”

The KOJC declared June 10 as a “Day of Infamy”. On that day personnel from PRO-10, PRO-11, PRO-12, SWAT, Special Action Forces and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group tried but failed to arrest Quiboloy, the self-appointed “Son of God”.

Quiboloy evaded arrest despite being hounded by three warrants of arrest: from the Senate on March 19, a court in Davao City on April 1 and a court in Pasig on April 11 for various cases, including human trafficking, child abuse, and sexual abuse. (Ian Carl Espinosa/MindaNews)