President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Tuesday, August 27, that the Philippine National Police (PNP) did not commit any human rights violations in their ongoing raid of the compound of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) in Davao City in an attempt to arrest fugitive pastor Apollo Quiboloy.
In a media interview in Malacañang, Marcos said the PNP had to deploy around 2,000 policemen in Quiboloy’s compound in Davao City as the size of the area required the deployment of numerous officers.
“Are there human rights violations when there is a lot of police? I don’t think so. Anyway, the reason we did this was so that we could maintain the peace. The only way to maintain the peace is to make sure that the area is safe and is secure,” Marcos said.
“There were no human rights violations. None of the police were armed, and no tear gas was used. The operation was peaceful,” he added.
The President also said that resistance from supporters resulted in injuries to both the police and members of Quiboloy’s Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) group.
He said he could not understand why Quiboloy dragged his people on the line as police officers “haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Hindi ko nga maintindihan kung bakit dinadamay ni Quiboloy ang mga tauhan niya. Kasi sinasabak nya yung mga tauhan nya. Eh wala namang kasalanan yang mga yan. They just believe that they are looking for an answer, a values system and they think they have found it kay Quiboloy,” he said.
“But they did not sign up to be in the frontline of this kind of thing that is happening now, that they will protect him from arrest, even when he has cases filed him not only here in the Philippines but also in the United States. So I suppose I can understand their disagreement with us, even anger. But what all the police are doing is enforcing the warrant of arrest against Apollo Quiboloy. That’s all they’re doing.”
Politicizing the situation
Vice President Sara Duterte previously criticized what she described as “gross abuse of police power,” arguing that the reported violence against civilians and KOJC members is unacceptable.
In contrast, the President contended that these allegations are merely an attempt to politicize the situation.
“I think what they are talking about, political na ‘yan. Hindi na totoo yan. You can go to any human rights advocate, there’s nothing that we did… Lahat ng pumasok na pulis, hindi armado. Walang baril kahit isa. Hindi kami gumamit ng teargas. Wala kaming ginawang ganun. So anong human rights violation?” Marcos said.
“Marami lang. Kung kokonti, mas marami pang nasaktan. Mas maraming nasaktan na supporter ng Kingdom of Jesus Christ, maraming nasaktan na pulis. Dahil maglalaban. Kung marami, tapos kaagad ang problema. That’s what we’ve done,” he added. (TCSP)
