No deadline set for Quiboloy’s capture – Gen. Torre
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 4 Sep)—Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III, Police Regional Office – 11 (PRO-11) chief, said the police will get Pastor Apollo Quiboloy even if it takes more than a year, and bring him to face the criminal charges hurled against him.
“We are hell bent on getting him,” Torre said of the fugitive preacher who continue to evade arrest for the string of criminal cases—including human trafficking, sexual harassment and child abuse—lodged before the courts.
In a prepared speech addressed to the public and policemen which he read during a live-streamed press briefing on Tuesday, Torre disclosed that they have been getting stiff resistance from Quiboloy’s followers, who were trying to distract them from doing what they need to do.
Among these attempts include hate messages and threats on social media from fake accounts and trolls, he said. But Torre said these have strengthened their resolve to continue and finish their job.
“Every day, every single day that passes that we don’t apprehend Apollo Quiboloy, is another day of injustice, another day of travesty of the legal processes,” said Torre, who is leading police operations to arrest the preacher, now on its 11th day.
“This is why we are so persistent in our efforts and we will not stop until we catch this person,” he said. He urged policemen involved in the effort to arrest Quiboloy not to lose focus.
“In this situation, we have minor victims, like alias Amanda, whose lowly voice is nothing compared to the accused Apollo Quiboloy, if the government is not there to help her and the other victims,” Torre pointed out.
The police have been criticized by Quiboloy’s followers and members of the KOJC for their prolonged stay inside the 30-hectare KOJC compound in barangay Buhangin, Davao City, storming the place early morning on August 24.
Quiboloy’s followers found an ally in Vice President Sara Duterte, who described the police operations at the KOJC compound as “excessive.” The vice president attended the KOJC anniversary celebration on Sunday inside the compound.
Death threats
According to the police general, the situation has gone for the worse, dragging the personal lives and the families of policemen into the issue.
“While we are intensifying our operations, they are also intensifying their personal attacks against us. They have called me names and I know many of you also have received hate comments and messages,” he said.
Torre said no one is spared from these attacks which they have traced to trolls, “one is employed by the city.”
He revealed that his wife and children have been rained with hate messages and even threats in social media by fake accounts and trolls.
“Last night, there was a direct death threat to my children,” Torre said without elaborating.
But this must not deter the police from doing their job, he said.
“Hindi tayo magpapatinag. Tandaan natin kung bakit andito tayo. Trabaho natin ang protektahan ang mas nakakaraming mga tao, panatilihin ang kapayapaan, at siguraduhin na ang lahat ay sumusunod sa batas. Maging sino man sila!” he said.
Full responsibility
Torre described what the police have been doing at the KOJC compound as not a mere serving of a warrant of arrest. “It is to show to every Filipino people that the police is here for them,” he said.
Gone are the days when justice is served on the streets. “Nakita na natin ang pait na idinulot nito sa ating mga kababayan na hindi man lang nabigyan ng pagkakataon na idipensa ang mga sarili nila, lalong lalo na sa kanilang pamilya,” Torre said, apparently referring to the extra-judicial killings during previous administrations.
Referring to the police operations for Quiboloy’s arrest, he said policemen are merely doing their jobs as law enforcers.
“Kung sa hinaharap, magreklamo si Apollo Quiboloy laban sa atin, iisa ang ating depensa, tayong lahat ay ginagawa lamang ang trabaho natin, higit sa lahat, kayo ay sumunod lamang sa utos ko,” he said.
As the regional director, Torre said he is taking full responsibility in everything and anything that they do. “I don’t leave my people behind. I don’t throw my people under the bus to save my own skin.”
The police general recalled “an encounter in Fairview, Quezon City, “noontime in 14 December 2005, four killed in a 300 square meter lot, 16 arrested.” A case of harassment was filed against the police and 12 years later it was dismissed, the police got exonerated and even promoted, he said.
“Kaya kung makapatay man tayo, kumuha ng lakas sa kaalaman na mahalaga ang ginagawa natin. Tayo ay gumagawa ng magandang ehemplo para sa lahat kapag nahuli natin ang taong ito, at mahuhuli natin siya,” Torre stressed.
He said the police operations will continue with more determination, and it will end, showing that the law is fair and no one is above it. (Rommel G. Rebollido / MindaNews)
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