SOUND BARRIER The Philippine National Police also deploys a vehicle fitted with a long-range acoustic device, in case there’s a need for stronger crowd control.
DAVAO CITY – The police forces hunting down televangelist Apollo Quiboloy inside the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KJC) compound in Buhangin District here will remain in the premises and continue to enforce the arrest warrants.
This was the declaration of Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III, Davao regional police chief, after Davao Regional Trial Court Branch 15 Presiding Judge Mario Duaves issued a Temporary Protection Order (TPO) on Tuesday against the police forces.
“We will remain. We respect the TPO and we will abide by it,” Torre told reporters in a briefing on Tuesday afternoon.
In the TPO, Duaves ordered the police to “remove all forms of barricades, barriers or blockades that bar the access to and from” the KOJC compound for its members and officers.
READ: Cops disperse Quiboloy followers on Day 3 of standoff
The TPO stemmed from a July 1 petition for a writ of amparo filed by the KJC and the Jose Maria College Foundation, Inc. which operates a school inside the compound.
On Tuesday afternoon, members of the sect were moving in and out of the compound freely but under the watchful eyes of civil disobedience management forces of the police.
Torre said the clearing of the highway occupied by protesting KJC members on Sunday night is part of the security measures they are imposing as they continue to scour for Quiboloy and his four other coaccused in child abuse and human trafficking charges.
Torre has said they are keen on preventing another episode of mass actions that disturb the local community. The gathering that began on Sunday night was eventually dispersed by Monday afternoon during which 16 police officers were injured in the ensuing melee.
“We welcome the issuance of TPO because it will clarify a lot of things. But we will stay (in the compound) umtil the operation is over,” Torre rmphasized.
He said they are continuing to scan for an entrance to the bunker where they believed Quiboloy is in hiding.
He also mentioned about further scanning of the King Dome which is the venue for major KJC worship events.
Torre revealed that they only did a visual search of the facility and would soon employ their radar to scan through its various chambers
During the briefing, Torre took a swipe at SMNI for peddling fake information by reporting that police used tear gas against KJC members. “The police cannot use and never intended to use tear gas because we don’t hae gas masks. Tear gas is used by specialist units,” he explained.