PNP on helping Senate serve subpoena vs. Quiboloy: ‘We are ready’

PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo answers questions from reporters in a media briefing in Camp Crame, Quezon City, on April 25, 2023. (File photo by FAITH ARGOSINO / INQUIRER.net)

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) will assist the Senate in serving the subpoena it issued to Apollo Quiboloy, founder of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KJC).

“If the Senate and the Congress will seek the assistance of the PNP in serving the subpoena, then we are ready to assist them,” the PNP spokesperson, Col. Jean Fajardo, said in a press briefing.

Although the Senate has its own mechanism for serving its subpoenas, Fajardo said PNP was just waiting for the official request from the legislative chamber.

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Fajardo made the statement a day after Sen. Risa Hontiveros said the Senate might seek the backing of the PNP, following the advice of the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

“In the meantime, the PNP will not interfere for now since we have no official request from the Senate,” Fajardo added.

Hontiveros previously said the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality would likely seek the support of police if Quiboloy would ignore the subpoena.

According to Hontiveros, her office received “credible evidence of threats” on the lives of former KJC members who had earlier testified against Quiboloy, stressing the need for the KJC leader’s attendance to the upper chamber’s probe.

The new subpoena served against Quiboloy is the second summon released by the Senate. Zubiri signed the first one on Monday.