TACLOBAN CITY — “We are working on it.”
That was the response of Police Director General Rommel Francisco Marbil when asked why they had not arrested the fugitive preacher and self-proclaimed son of God, Apollo Quiboloy.
He, however, stressed that it was the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) that headed the manhunt operation against Quiboloy.
“We are working on that. The lead agency is the NBI, and we are helping the NBI to locate him,” Marbil said in an ambush interview on Tuesday, April 23.
READ: 2nd Quiboloy arrest order: No bail this time
“We are closing in. Hindi naman po talagang mahirap hanapin but meron kaming strategy kung papano talaga (Looking for him is not that difficult but we have a strategy on how to close in on him). We are diplomatic about it,” the police chief said.
Marbil, however, declined to entertain more questions from the media on the issue.
Marbil was in Palo town, Leyte Tuesday, April 23, to visit Camp Ruperto Kangleon, the Philippine National Police-Eastern Visayas headquarters, where he served from August 15, 2022 to May 2, 2023.
Earlier, Sen. Risa Hontiveros expressed surprise as to why the police and other security agencies had yet to arrest Quiboloy, the founder and leader of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.
The senator asked Marbil to find and arrest Quiboloy.
Quiboloy, a close associate of former president Rodrigo Duterte, has pending arrest warrants on charges of child abuse, sexual assault, trafficking, exploitation, and discrimination.