MindaNews journalist on KOJC coverage: mob aggressively shooed us
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 27 August) – At 9:15 p.m. on Monday, August 26, I and my colleagues from MindaNews – Antonio Colina IV and Toto Lozano – and Germelina Lacorte of the Philippine Daily Inquirer were about to go home from covering the tense situation at the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) compound.
I was just around for 10 minutes to relieve Colina, who has been covering since daytime, but seeing the bad weather, I thought of departing. Three days ago, I went home having a slight nausea and fever after covering the first 12 hours of the police operation to arrest anew fugitive KOJC founder Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, who is accused of child abuse, sexual abuse and human trafficking. At least 2,000 police personnel from Regions 10, 11, 12 and 13 have been deployed to catch the self-appointed “son of God.”
True enough, the rains started pouring shortly, giving us a reason to leave the area. A while ago, our colleagues from TV5, UNTV, Davao Today, Mindanao Times and one of our editors at MindaNews, Carol Arguillas, already left as the weather starts to become gloomy.
Just as I am about to pack my things, I saw Newsline Philippines publisher Edith Caduaya trying to go inside the police barricade. I cannot hear anything due to the distance. She was around 50 meters from where we were standing.
Moments later, the news vehicles of TV5 and UNTV came out of the police barricade. I can hear the crowd of furious KOJC members and supporters booing them.
As the vehicles were maneuvering, at least five KOJC members attempted to ride the cars but the police prevented them. The crowd was shouting ”biased media, bayarang (paid) media,” among others.
After a minute, Newsline Philippines’ Caduaya returned to our media group – we were gathered inside the police line. I saw that a furious crowd of KOJC members of not less than a hundred met her as she walked towards us.
Surrounded, she explained to them that she only asked permission from authorities to let the media vehicles of Newsline and PTV Davao pass by the police barrier because they were parked at the Panacan side.
‘‘Klarohon lang nato ni, nangayo ko’g permission kung pwede ba kaagi. Need nila mag-file og report (Let’s make this clear. I asked permission for our vehicles to pass by. They need to file a news report),” Caduaya explained to the crowd.
The vehicles of Newsline Philippines and PTV Davao were just behind her. As the vehicles tried to go through the police barricade, the furious crowd’s anger seem to escalate.
I saw them throwing things to the vehicles like a bottled water. Some of them stomped on the cars.
The mob tried to stop the vehicles, shouting “atras, atras!” (move back) and “biased media.” I heard them say that only SMNI (Sonshine Media Network International), KOJC’s broadcast media arm, was unbiased.
More and more people flashed their cameras trying to record the scene. We were right in front of what’s happening. I asked Colina if it is time to go away from the commotion. Our other media colleagues were just behind us.
The KOJC crowd’s behaviors were getting worse – some of them began slamming the frames and the windows of both the PTV-4 and Newsline Philippines vehicles. They were forced to go back and parked at a safe space near the airport.
As we headed to leave towards the airport, the mob surged and aggressively shooed us away. They recorded us with their smartphones, point their fingers, and shouted ”media mga bias, bayaran” (bias media, paid hacks).
Caduaya abruptly stopped to talk with the unruly KOJC members.
”Your lawyer signed a document that you will not bully members of the media!” she said.
The crowd ignored her and chanted ”Hilom! Bayaran! Bayad Bayad! (Shut up! Paid Media! Paid, paid!). ”
An unknown person, apparently their crowd control leader, apologized to her.
Minutes later, the mob dramatically went thicker, and forcibly want us to leave. They pushed us on our front and on our sides. We have no choice but to step back and escape.
”Hawa mo diri, bakakon! Mga bayaran, hawa mo diri! Mga yawa, ayaw mo’g balik! Pineparahan niyo lang kami, mga put*ngina niyo! Mao na’y inyo, dili mo pwede diri! (Go away you liars. Go away paid hacks. You are evil, don’t come back. You are cashing in on us you son of a bitch. You’re not allowed here, you deserve it!),” one of them shouted.
When a SMNI news vehicle shortly drove near us, the crowd cheered: ”Sila ang tinuod, dili kamong mga bayaran! Wala mo’y mga bayag!” (They are the real (media), not you paid hacks. You have no balls!)
Their apparent crowd control leader, who wore a cap and black striped polo shirt, then told us that ”most of the crowd were not KOJC members.”
”Makontrol namin iba diyan, mga KOJC members, pero yung ibang di KOJC members, wala kami control diyan (We can control the KOJC members, but those who are not, we don’t have control),” he said.
As we were moving to leave, some KOJC members continued to taunt us. One of our colleagues, Jhesa Torrefranca of GMA Super Radyo, caught up with us and said, ”Inyoha tong kaubanan? Gitapok-an? (Is that your colleague being surrounded?)”
We rushed back and saw Toto Lozano being confronted by the crowd. Lozano was calmly explaining to them that ”they must be calm” as the media are not an enemy. We left together hurriedly.
We later collectively decided to report this to the Buhangin Police Station. As we safely went out from that hellish place, we were still being mocked by some KOJC members.
Indeed, it was a harrowing experience.
But as a journalist, covering and reporting events are my basic job. And I am merely doing them. (Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)
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