MANILA, Philippines — The camp of pastor Apollo Quiboloy yesterday vowed to oppose moves of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to transfer the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) leader to the Quezon City Jail.
In a chance interview after the continuation of the preliminary conference of the child and sexual abuse cases pending before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 106, Quiboloy’s lawyer Israelito Torreon maintained that Quiboloy is a security risk.
“The fact they launched 5,000 policemen just to arrest him proves that he is a security risk and that also justifies why he has to be at the moment at the Custodial Center (of the PNP). I am sure everybody does not doubt that,” Torreon stressed.
The PNP, on their part, has said that there is no reason for Quiboloy to remain at the PNP Custodial Center Facility.
“We hope that the PNP should respect (the rights of Quiboloy) and should not engage in rumors and avoid announcing it to the public and go to the court instead,” Torreon said.
“That (transfer to QC jail) is the opinion of the PNP. Let’s just hope and pray that they will not subject my client to so much publicity and even if we respect their opinions, the case is already in court. All motions should be filed in court, not to the public,” he added.
Torreon said Quiboloy and his co-accused joined the preliminary conference virtually.
According to Torreon, the camp of the self-proclaimed son of God is still awaiting the decision of the Pasig and Quezon City RTCs on the petition to put Quiboloy under hospital arrest.
“The motion is still pending until today so we are hoping that it will be approved so that he will be confined in a proper hospital setting,” Torreon added.
Quiboloy’s lawyer said their legal team already filed its own medical evaluation before the courts after the PNP submitted its recommendation.
Quiboloy wants to hasten the deliberations of the cases against him, according to Torreon.
“He is hopeful that the proceedings will be fast-tracked so that he can prove his innocence. He is just hoping that he will be placed in a hospital setting so that his health would be attended to right away by his doctors,” he added.
At the same time, Torreon said that the bomb scare in the Pasig RTC on Tuesday has no connection with the case against Quiboloy.
He said the hearing yesterday at Quezon City RTC was a continuation of the preliminary conference.
“The pretrial was moved in November. It is because of the voluminous documents that we have to mark as part of our evidence and that’s it,” he said.