DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 14 Aug)—Former President Rodrigo R. Duterte slammed the 20-day freeze order issued by the Court of Appeals last August 7 against the assets, including bank accounts, of fugitive Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy, Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC), and media company.
During a pre-recorded episode of “Basta Dabawenyo” uploaded on the YouTube channel CM Baste Duterte on Monday evening, Duterte, who was appointed administrator of KOJC last March 8, believed that the appellate court’s freeze order was erroneous.
He claimed that the frozen assets involved “no public funds.”
“Sabihin ko sa iyo—without criticizing—mali yan. (I would tell you—without criticizing—that is wrong). It does not involve public funds. There is no allegation of misuse,” he said.
Duterte said he is confident that if the legal counsel of Quiboloy would challenge the decision of the CA in the Supreme Court, they would get the relief against the order.
In a report published by the Philippine News Agency last August 8, the CA’s Special 3rd Division, through Associate Justice Gabriel Robeniol, found a reasonable ground to believe that those assets are “linked to unlawful activities and predicate crimes.”
The report said that the order covers Quiboloy’s 10 bank accounts, five motor vehicles, seven real properties, and one aircraft; KOJC’s 47 bank accounts, 16 real properties, and 16 motor vehicles; and 17 bank accounts, five real properties, and 26 motor vehicles of Swara Sug Media Corporation, which owns Sonshine Media Network International or SMNI.
Section 10 of Republic Act (R.A.) 9160 or the “Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001,” as amended by R.A.10365 and R.A. 10927, states that upon a verified ex parte petition by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and after determination that “probable cause exists that any monetary instrument or property is in any way related to an unlawful activity as defined in Section 3(i) hereof, the Court of Appeals may issue a freeze order which shall be effective immediately, for a period of twenty (20) days.”
The law also lists numerous violations of laws, not necessarily crimes involving “public funds,” which can be the basis for the issuance of a freeze order.
Quiboloy is facing charges for alleged child abuse and qualified human trafficking, along with co-accused Jackielyn Roy, Cresente Canada, Paulene Canada, Ingrid Canada, and Sylvia Cemañes. Paulene was arrested last July 11 at her residence in Emily Homes Subdivision in Barangay Cabantian.
These suspects have two warrants of arrest issued by the Regional Trial Court (RTC)-Branch 12 in Davao City and RTC in Pasig City last April 3 and April 11, respectively.
However, the Supreme Court’s Second Division ordered last May 28 the transfer of two criminal cases from RTC in Davao to RTC in Quezon City.
Aside from his cases in the Philippines, Quiboloy was indicted by a federal grand jury in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, Santa Ana, California, for conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion and sex trafficking of children; sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion; conspiracy; and bulk cash smuggling. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
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