Press Release - Bato Dela Rosa brings harassment of KOJC members, Davaoeños plight to Senate plenary

Senator Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa has raised at the Senate plenary the complaints of the residents of Davao City, particularly the members of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) after the Philippine National Police (PNP) camped at their compound over the weekend to serve the arrest warrant against Pastor Apollo Quiboloy.

In a privilege speech delivered Tuesday afternoon, Dela Rosa said that he supports the PNP's desire to fulfill their duty to serve the arrest warrant. However, there are questions on the deployment of 2,000 policemen from different regions in Mindanao and their encampment inside and outside the KOJC compound.

"As a former Chief of Philippine National Police, I have not encountered an operation to implement a warrant of arrest wherein we deployed forces close to 2,000 people," Dela Rosa said.

He stressed that only 44 Special Action Forces with more than 200 back up police officers have been involved in the implementation of the warrant of arrest against one of the most wanted terrorists in the United States, Zulkifi Abd Hir also known as "Marwan," who has a five million US dollar bounty.

Marwan was even protected by more than 1,000 heavily-armed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and private armed groups around the so-called SPMS box-- a military term for the contiguous towns of Shariff Aguak, Pagatin (Datu Saudi Ampatuan town), Mamasapano, and Shariff Saydona.

"Kaya ang tanong ng mga miyembro ng KOJC, mas mapanganib ba si Pastor Quiboloy kaysa sa isang most wanted terrorist? Mas mapanganib ba ang Davao City compared doon sa Mamasapano na napakaraming umiikot na mga armadong tao?" Dela Rosa asked.

The Mindanaoan lawmaker also took a swipe at the leadership of the PNP Regional Office XI for putting the police officers involved in the operations at risk.

"Tila isinusubo niyo sa kapahamakan ang ating mga pulis. Inaakay ninyo sila sa bangin na maaaring magdulot ng kamatayan sa kanilang mga promising careers," he said.

The former top cop also expressed concern that the PNP officers from different regions in Mindanao have left their respective jurisdictions and might cause shortage in manpower in their areas.

Apart from the "overkill" in the serving of