THE MOST STUNNING was the Supreme Court decision, released on Wednesday the 4th of September, declaring void and unconstitutional a lease contract recognizing Marcos Sr. as the owner of a 57-hectare property in Paoay Ilocos Norte that includes the so-called “Malacañang of the North”.  The ruling, penned by Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, noted that the land was never titled under the name of Marcos Sr.  https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1980549/sc-junks-marcos-family-claim-on-paoay-land

Napaka-good news. Diyatat this Supreme Court is kabalikat ng people of the Philippines in the continuing struggle to recover ill-gotten wealth? Ang saya naman, kahit pa it could be more a matter of who appointed them — the Chief Justice and 12 Associate Justices are Digong appointees, and the two others are PNoy’s. Whatever. Okey na rin.  Let’s see how they will rule on any cases brought against the Dutertes. https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/incumbent-justices/

TWO DAYS LATER came the happy arrest of the fugitive Alice a.k.a. Guo Hua Ping (who disappeared in July), fetched from Indonesia and brought “home” by DILG sec Benhur Abalos on Friday the 6th of Sept at 1:30 a.m. — masked up and grimly refusing to show her face on cam, in stark contrast to photos of the first meet-up of the two in Jakarta, where they were all smiles, complete with handshake and “Ikaw talaga”, and you couldn’t help wondering, what’s up with these two?

ANOTHER TWO DAYS LATER, on Sunday the 8th, there was the very laudable capture of fugitive Apollo Quiboloy, the appointed anak ng diyos  (in hiding since February) — but  PNP Gen. Nick Torre, in command of the two-week ops would not could not make kuwento about how and where it happened, the story was for Sec Abalos to tell daw, except that Abalos was in Dubai that day, and you couldn’t help wondering why you had to wait and hear the story from someone who wasn’t around naman when the heaven-appointed Quiboloy walked out of his lunggâ into the arms of earthly authorities. Abalos must have known that Torre was was all set to move in on the cornered Quiboloy. Akala niya matatagalan pa?

“I have to fly back to Manila tonight after this event to present him to the public in a press conference,” said Abalos, who also initially disclosed Quiboloy’s capture through a Facebook photo that he captioned: “Nahuli na po si Apollo Quiboloy (Quiboloy has been caught).” https://www.expatmedia.net/abalos-trip-dubai-cut-short-quiboloy-arrest/2024/09/

Tuloy, dahil di agad nakapagkuwento si Torre, namayagpag ang mga spin ng DDS — kesyo being caught or being arrested doesn’t mean he surrendered, kesyo hindi siya sa loob ng KOJC nahuli, kesyo sa AFP siya sumuko at hindi sa PNP, therefore napahiya si Gen. Torre, at kung anoano pa.

Pero hindi naman nakakagulat that Abalos wanted, needed, to take credit for the stupendous success of the two-week ops of the PNP that’s under the DILG. Surely, para makabawi sa Alice a.k.a. Guo Hau Ping fiasco — baka sakaling matabunan at makalimutan na natin? Fat chance, Sec. Ikaw talaga.

THE LATEST STUNNER on the AliceGHP front is courtesy of Ping Lacson.

In a Radyo 630 interview on Wednesday, September 11, former senator Panfilo Lacson cited information from a Filipino-Chinese friend – with contacts to the First Family – who was allegedly approached by Guo for help.

Lacson said Guo was willing to pay P1 billion to fix her legal woes with the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission.

The Filipino-Chinese businessman did not help Guo with her request, Lacson clarified.

The former senator urged the intelligence community to look into Guo and her potential to be a national security risk because of her alleged use of her position as mayor to help a syndicate behind an illegal offshore casino. https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2024/09/12/2384735/guo-allegedly-offered-p1-billion-bribe-settle-legal-issues-ex-senator

Makes you wonder who she’s so afraid of, and who she’s protecting, other than herself, of course.  Kaabang-abang.

VP Sara doesn’t think Apollo Quibuloy is still in Davao City, that he has had enough time to think of leaving.

Personally, I think wala na siya dito sa Pilipinas. Ako, kung one guess, kung nasaan si Pastor Quiboloy, nasa langit.” https://mb.com.ph/2024/9/2/nasa-langit

By “langit” I assume that the VP doesn’t mean that the “Appointed Son of God” has died and joined his “Appointed Father” in KOJC heaven. I assume she means that Quiboloy is “in heaven” on earth, that is, just very happy to have  escaped to a safer place beyond the reach of the PNP.

The PNP, however, is certain that the fugitive pastor is still in the sprawling 30-hectare KOJC compound that holds more than 40 buildings, including a cathedral and a huge underground bunker, and that they are closing in on him, slowly but surely. Hopefully, the authorities are also watching, and/or have cut off, all avenues of escape so that he can’t do an Alice Guo, if he hasn’t yet.

He was indicted in the US for conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion; sex trafficking of children; and bulk cash smuggling. A federal warrant was issued for his arrest on Nov. 10, 2021.

Meanwhile, the DOJ said it sees no legal impediment to the arrest of Quiboloy for violation of Republic Act (R.A.) No. 7610 or the “Anti-Child Abuse Law” after the Davao Regional Trial Court (RTC) issued a warrant of arrest against him last April 3 for sexual abuse of minors and maltreatment.

“The charges against Quiboloy are not simple. They involve serious and morally abhorrent offenses such as sexual assault of a minor and human trafficking,” (DOJ Sec) Remulla pointed out. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1222218

The game plan seems to be to do a Ping Lacson, as in, go fugitive until proven innocent.

[KOJC Law Dean] ISRAELITO TORREON. It is … within [Quiboloy’s] right to insist on his innocence without facing the rigors of trial. Why will you require him to go to trial when he honestly believes that the case need not go to trial knowing that he is really innocent in the first place. That was done before by former Senator Panfilo Lacson when a Double Murder case was filed against him in the RTC Manila and warrants of arrest were issued against him. He went into hiding and only surfaced when the Court of Appeals nullified the warrants of arrest on February 3, 2011 (please read Dacer versus Lacson, June 8, 2011 SC Decision, 3rd division).

Further, in Pastor Apollo Quiboloy’s case there is also a threat to his life and there is also a clear danger of being extraordinarily rendered to the US because his detractors likewise filed trumped up charges against him there. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php

But are the two cases even comparable? Unlike Lacson, Quiboloy is charged with multiple crimes in different courts here and in America. Clearing him of all charges could take forever. Unless, of course, he is counting on the Dutertes re-capturing power in 2028? He just has to hold out until then? Maybe even fund the campaign of some DDS candidates in 2025 for more allies in Congress?

In 2013, a press release from the office of Senator Loren Legarda tells of the weight of Quiboloy’s endorsement then.

Quiboloy’s endorsement means the votes of his more than six million followers not only in Davao City where his congregation is based but also in other parts of the country and abroad.

Legarda, for her part, said: “I thank Pastor Quiboloy and the leadership of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ for including me in the list of candidates that they are endorsing. This serves as a strong expression of support to the causes that I have been espousing and the programs that I plan to accomplish when I get reelected.”

Besides Legarda, also endorsed by Quiboloy were senatoriables Migz Zubiri, Chiz Escudero, Bam Aquino, Cynthia Villar, Grace Poe, Sonny Angara, Juan Ponce Enrile, Jr., JV Ejercito, Nancy Binay, Edward Hagedorn, and Richard Gordon. https://legacy.senate.gov.ph/press_release/2013/0510_legarda3.asp

Nota bene. In 2010 Quiboloy endorsed Gibo Teodoro and Mar Roxas, but they both lost to PNoy and Jojo Binay. In 2016 he endorsed Duterte and Cayetano; the latter lost to Leni Robredo.

Read also Tita C. Valderama‘s “The Curious Case of Apollo Quiboloy.”

In the 2022 elections, Quiboloy’s endorsement was not as sought after as in past elections in view of his indictment in the U.S. and the issuance of a warrant for his arrest in November 2021.

Even then, the self-styled pastor endorsed the tandem of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte for president and vice president, respectively.

But on Feb. 21, Quiboloy asked Marcos to resign, accusing him of conniving with the U.S. government to get him arrested and killed. He said he had gone into hiding because his life was in danger.

A week later, Marcos advised Quiboloy to come out, face the congressional inquiries into the allegations of abuses against him and the KOJC and seize the opportunity “to say his side of the story.”

“Hindi na kami kompiyansa sa gobyernong ito. Gagawa at gagawa sila ng paraan para kami ay bigyan ng kasalanan,” said Quiboloy, raising the possibility that the Marcos administration would resort to the planting of evidence to implicate him in criminal activities.

… He claimed that the government would “take over all our properties” and establish a corporation under which the KOJC assets would fall under. In what appeared as a preemptive move, Quiboloy appointed Durterte last Friday as administrator of the properties belonging to KOJC.

That was last March 9 when Dutz was appointed admin. Five months later, August 5, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) asked the Court of Appeals to freeze Quiboloy’s assets. The CA obliged on August 7, with a 20-day freeze order on Quiboloy’s bank accounts and real estate properties after finding merit in the sexual exploitation, human trafficking, and financial smuggling cases filed against Quiboloy and four others.

The Aug. 6 freeze order, which is effective immediately, covers Quiboloy’s 10 bank accounts with Banco De Oro and Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. and seven real estate properties located in Davao del Norte, Davao City, Davao Oriental, Mati, and Roxas City. The freeze includes five vehicles and one private plane owned by the fugitive pastor.

Also ordered frozen were 47 bank accounts, 16 real properties in the provinces of Laguna, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental and Iloilo, and Quezon City and the cities of Davao, Tagbilaran, Mandaue, and Butuan, and 16 vehicles of KJC.

This also freezes SMNI’s 17 bank accounts, five real estate properties (located in Cagayan, Isabela, and Cabanatuan and Makati cities), and 26 vehicles.

August 20, the freeze on Quiboloy’s bank accounts and properties was extended six months, until February 2025. That’s some three months before midterm elections. Enough time to influence the outcome, kahit konti? But does it mean there’s a chance that Quiboloy would be cleared of all charges by then and that he could therefore come out of hiding and openly endorse DDS candidates? Parang not likely.

And then again, who knows, ang dami pang puwedeng mangyari. There’s still the China card at play. Surely the Dutertes’ allies overseas (nandoon na kaya si Quibs?) are watching closely and liking the idea of a Sara-Digong tandem in 2028.  Ang problema na lang nila, kung paano makakaraos through the next three years without losing any more ground to the Marcos-Romualdez cabal.

As for us on the sidelines who are not enamored of either Marcos or Duterte and can only watch the two camps tear each other down, the challenge I believe is to turn 2028 into a serious three-cornered fight. But that’s for another blog.

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Will the Dutertes have their vengeance?
https://opinion.inquirer.net/176586/will-the-dutertes-have-their-vengeance

Inside ‘son of God’ cult leader Apollo Quiboloy’s sprawling underground lair with rooms for ‘most attractive sex slaves’ – as cops scour Philippines compound for preacher on FBI Most Wanted list for sex crimes https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13787593/apollo-quiboloy-bunker-compound-philippines-sex-slaves-cult.html

I miss being in a Cult. https://www.reddit.com/r/OffMyChestPH/comments/1axauod/i_miss_being_in_a_cult/

Why a Filipino Megachurch Founder Is on the Run, Claiming the U.S. Wants Him Dead https://time.com/6722170/apollo-quiboloy-fbi-us-philippines/

 

Early on, I thought maybe it was just a stunt, you know, to excite, call attention, like a marketing promo. But now i pray they get lucky and get found while there’s oxygen to breathe.

Hours of oxygen left as rescuers searching for missing Titanic submarine hear more ‘banging’ sounds – live updates https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/submarine-titantic-missing-submersible-tourists-latest-b2360568.html