Philippine president defends massive police operation to arrest celebrity pastor
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Police blocking supporters of wanted preacher Apollo Quiboloy outside a compound in Davao City, the Philippines, on Aug 26.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
MANILA – Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr defended on Aug 27 the deployment of 2,000 police officers at the weekend to arrest an influential pastor accused of sex trafficking who is a long-time friend of the country’s former president.
Police think Apollo Quiboloy, a self-proclaimed “owner of the universe” and “appointed son of god”, is hiding in a bunker at the sprawling compound owned by his church, the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, in the southern city of Davao.
Quiboloy is wanted on charges of child and sexual abuse
Mr Marcos said the police deployment on Aug 24
“And considering that this is a 30ha compound, you really need plenty of people, not just a dozen police,” Mr Marcos told reporters.
His remarks follow criticism over the handling of the case by former president Rodrigo Duterte and his daughter, Vice-President Sara Duterte.
The pair, who used to be allies of Mr Marcos but have become rivals, have accused police of rights violations and abuse of power.
“These acts are not only a blatant violation of constitutionally protected rights but a betrayal of the trust that we, Filipinos, place in the very institution sworn to protect and serve us,” Ms Duterte said in a statement.
Quiboloy’s followers blocked the gate of the compound to prevent hundreds of shield-carrying police from enforcing a court order to arrest the evangelist preacher, a police spokesman said.
The police “have turned the Kingdom of Jesus Christ compound into a garrison”, Mr Israelito Torreon, Quiboloy’s lawyer, told ANC news channel on Aug 27.
Quiboloy, who also figures on the US Federal Bureau of Investigation’s most wanted list,
Ms Duterte, whose recent exit from Mr Marcos’ Cabinet sealed the break-up of the alliance they forged in a 2022 election,
