CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines – Along the Philippine-Japan Friendship Highway in Davao City lies a sprawling labyrinth, shrouded and evading the gaze of the curious. The vast property, owned by the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC), has come under suspicion by the police as the clandestine refuge of the elusive fugitive preacher Apollo Quiboloy.
Beneath its unassuming surface, an intricate network of underground spaces and tunnels stretch out like the veins of some forgotten beast, and there is a taxiway that leads directly to Davao’s Francisco Bangoy International Airport.
Based on how the police described it, the property is a marvel of covert architecture, a complex web that leaves one to wonder what other secrets lie buried in its depths.
“The indicators and informants are telling us na nando’n lang sa loob (he is just inside). Kaya nga binabantayan siya ng kanyang tagasunod (That’s why he’s being watched over by his followers),” Brigadier General Nicolas Torre III, director of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in the Davao Region, told reporters in Camp Crame on Thursday, August 8.
He said three days earlier that at least 3,000 people were inside the property, believed to be keeping watch over the preacher who styles himself as the “appointed son of God.”
Before the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs on Monday, August 5, Torre said capturing Quiboloy posed a serious challenge for law enforcers trying to serve arrest warrants, due to the intricate layout of the vast Buhangin property.
“This is a hide-and-seek [situation] in a 30-hectare property,” Torre said.
Before the Senate committee, Torre described the grandiosity of the KOJC property, which is home to the still-unfinished King Dome – a colossal structure sprawling over five hectares and designed to accommodate 77,000 people.
Torre detailed the KOJC property’s intricacies: several elevator shafts, an elaborate network of tunnels, and an underground parking area.
Leading from the subterranean warren is a passageway to a hangar, designed with ample space to shelter four helicopters and two planes. It has a taxiway, a direct route straight to the Davao airport.
Add to all that, the arena has its own power, water, and waste disposal management systems, according to Torre.
Torre said he also suspected that there were “secret doors” in the KOJC’s Buhangin property that authorities missed when they searched it on June 10. He said the search, involving over 200 cops, was not thorough.
Nestled close to the imposing mixed-use arena is Quiboloy’s Jose Maria College, another sprawling property that left Torre contemplating what other secrets might be entombed within its confines.
“That’s how big it is…. If they (KOJC) allow us, I would bring in 1,500 people and have them stay there for a month to search for Quiboloy,” Torre told the committee chaired by Senator Ronald dela Rosa. The senator, who comes from the Davao Region, served as the first PNP chief during the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte – Quiboloy’s close friend and now KOJC property administrator.
Given the maze-like complexity and vast expanse of the KOJC property, Torre said, “[The search] cannot be done in one day, one week, or even one month…not even with 1,000 people.”
“To save us all from these heartaches, I really would like to suggest again for Mr. Quiboloy to just submit himself to the jurisdiction of the court together with his co-accused,” Torre told senators.
At Camp Crame on Thursday, Torre hinted at plans to launch another wave of police operations to serve warrants from two courts in Davao City and Pasig City against Quiboloy, related to charges of sexual abuse of a minor, child abuse, and human trafficking.
Four of Quiboloy’s church associates — siblings Ingrid and Cresente Canada, Jackielyn Roy, and Silvia Cemanes — are also being sought by authorities in connection with a non-bailable qualified trafficking case in Pasig.
A sixth co-accused, Paulene Canada, the youngest of the Canada siblings, was arrested by authorities in July.
All of them, except Quiboloy, had previously surrendered in connection with their Davao case for child abuse but were released after posting bail.
Torre told reporters that the real challenge is how to execute the police operation based on the rules while ensuring the “least casualties on both sides.”
“Ayaw natin ‘yon (We don’t want casualties),” he said. – Rappler.com