Disinformation hounds media coverage of 16-day police-Quiboloy standoff

Led by police escorts, Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, preacher of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, The Name Above All Names, Inc. exits the PNP Multipurpose hall for the DILG-PNP press conference on Monday, September 9, 2024, following his capture in Davao City on Sunday. INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON

DAVAO CITY — Disinformation and fake news hounded the media through the 16-day coverage of the police operation that eventually led to the arrest on Sunday, Sept. 8, of Pastor Apollo Quiboloy inside the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KJC) Compound in this city on Sunday, Sept. 8.

From the reports that seven KJC members died when thousands of policemen stormed the compound at dawn on the first day of the police operation on Aug. 24, to the lockdown and cancellation of all flights at the Davao International Airport when KJC members and Maisug supporters blocked the road on the night of the second day, to the alleged “surrender” of the pastor from Kidapawan City on the 16th day, journalists found themselves bombarded by false information that spread through social media even faster than they could check them.

READ: Apollo Quiboloy in gov’t custody after long hunt

Upon checking, journalists found that one KJC member (and not seven) died of cardiac arrest at the start of the police operation on the first day. But the cause of his death could hardly be blamed on the police operation as the 53-year-old man was deprived of rest and sleep, having spent nights as a watchman at the hangar before he had a heart attack, according to the nurse’s testimony  presented during the Senate hearing here.

On the evening of Sunday, Aug. 25, the second day of the standoff, the Quiboloy-owned SMNI also broke the news that all entry points to this city had been locked down by the police to prevent people from joining protest actions in front of the KJC Compound.

Reports that all flights at the Davao City International Airport had been suspended starting 8 p.m. also spread through social media and were found to be false.

READ: Where did ‘Son of God’ hide? Followers spin tales

Major Catherine dela Rey, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 11,  immediately issued a statement that the police had secured the airport exit gate to prevent the crowd that already blocked the C.P. Garcia highway from further affecting vehicles coming from the airport. CAAP also issued a statement denying the flight cancellations.

Contrary to reports that  he came from Kidapawan City to surrender on day 16, Quiboloy was just inside the Bible School Building inside the KJC Compound.

He was  forced to surrender to authorities when troops of the Philippine National Police (PNP) were already preparing for an assault on the building, where they knew Quiboloy was hiding.

READ: Quiboloy didn’t surrender, he surfaced because PNP closing in – Marcos

Brigadier General Nicolas Torre III said they had cased in and identified the building for days and surrounded on the day of the supposed assault.

The building was just across the JMC, where, in a video presented by Torre before the Senate hearing on Friday, 10 police women members of the search team was frisked by KJC members before they were allowed to enter and search inside.

This was also the building where the unarmed policewomen saw the girls between 12 to 15 years old inside the rooms. The girls were supposed to be sleeping at 5 or 6 p.m. and were not allowed to be disturbed, prompting Torre to alert authorities about it but when the police conducted another search, the minors were already nowhere to be found, Torre said in an earlier press conference.

Torre said that as early as Saturday, or a day after Friday’s Senate hearing here,  police were already preparing their assault on the buildings. At least 500 troops from the Special Action Force surrounded the Bible School Building and another 500 SWAT team from the Regional Mobile Force Battalion secured the JMC Building across.

READ: Tipsters on arrest of Quiboloy, 4 others to bag P14-M bounty – PNP

On Tuesday, Sept. 10, Bonz Andre Militar, a city councilor here, called out the spread of disinformation that had confused the public during the 16-day operation. Militar, in a privileged speech at the council session, had scored the media covering the event, stressing the importance of “accurate, fair and truthful reporting.”

He admitted being confused because of conflicting information that prevailed during the 16-day standoff but his statement struck a raw nerve among journalists who felt they were being blamed for the disinformation that made their work doubly difficult all through the standoff.

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