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.

*

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

Hmmm. Very interesting this reconstruction by Ambeth Ocampo of Day one 22 Feb 86 based daw on primary sources including declassified US state department documents of the period.

I take issue with 3 items, for the record:

1 That “Ramos and Enrile … moved from Camp Aguinaldo to Camp Crame” some hours after announcing their defection to the press. FACT: That night, only Ramos moved to Camp Crame which was his turf as PC chief. Enrile stayed in Aguinaldo until the next day; he moved to Crame Sunday afternoon 23 Feb and only because the tanks were coming; RAM finally agreed with Ramos that Crame would be easier to defend.

2 That “an estimated 20,000 people, many bringing food for the rebel soldiers, had heeded the call of Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin to lend their support by going to Edsa.” FACT: Butz Aquino’s call on Radio Veritas for people to join him in a march to EDSA and help prevent bloodshed came first, at 10:20 p.m. The Cardinal had to be convinced to make a similar call and he finally did so at 10:40 only to say that “Those of you who wish to help should do so.” At midnight when he spoke on Radio Veritas again and finally echoed Butz’s call for non-violent action, Butz and some 20 to 30k people were already marching to the EDSA camps from Isetann Cubao.

3 That “Cardinal Sin and Enrile called for nonviolent resolution…” FACT: Enrile was always saying that they would not fire the first shot, but nowhere in the newspaper accounts of those days or in the snap and not-snap EDSA books was he ever said to be calling for non-violence. Correct me if I’m wrong.

Eager to read what the next three days were like, according to Ambeth and the Americans.

By BEN KRITZ

SINCE the recent “breakthrough” in nuclear fusion technology on closer examination turns out to be one small step on a path that will still take decades to travel, it is natural to wonder if there are perhaps other forms of nuclear energy that offer the prospect of being useful within the next couple of years. Energy policymakers and industry players here and elsewhere throughout the region are certainly hoping so. The Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Myanmar have all recently announced ambitions to pursue nuclear energy, and Japan has just lately reversed its nuclear decommissioning policy adopted in the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster.

Of those countries, Japan has the best chance of making practical use of nuclear energy before the end of the decade, because it already has an extensive conventional nuclear infrastructure and the knowhow to operate it. The downside of that is that the Japanese public may not be particularly supportive — experiencing the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl tends to temper people’s excitement — and even before the tsunami-induced Fukushima catastrophe, Japan for all its talent had a rather spotty record when it comes to nuclear safety. Japan’s nuclear plants (excluding Fukushima) are not really the problem, but the rest of the infrastructure — fuel processing and waste disposal — has experienced a number of serious, and in several cases fatal accidents.

It is that “rest of the infrastructure,” the extensive systems and processes necessary for the construction and operation of any kind of nuclear plant, that nuclear energy advocates here in the Philippines, even the fools still holding out hope for the operation of the Bronze Age-vintage Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, stubbornly ignore. In every country with legitimate experience in nuclear energy, whether it’s Japan, or the US, or France, or Korea, it is in those parts of the bigger system where things go wrong, often and with significant cost.

Since 1952, when the partial meltdown of Canada’s experimental NRX reactor became what is considered the first civilian nuclear accident, there have been 122 known accidents rated 1 or higher on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES), an average of about one every seven weeks; 38 of those have been rated 4 or higher, which is considered “serious” or worse. These are just the accidents related to nuclear power; radiation accidents involving medical or other industrial systems are not included, but number in the hundreds.

The broad safety risks are something the Philippines is going to have to come to terms with, sooner or later; if the government and energy sector doesn’t do it sooner, which would obviously be preferable, some mistake will inevitably compel them to do so later. Fortunately, it seems the country will have the time to do things right — that is, develop an actual regulatory structure and enforceable safety standards before deploying nuclear power — simply because that other magical MacGuffin of nuclear technology everyone believes they will just be able to buy and plug in, the so-called small modular reactor (SMR) systems, has hit a number of development obstacles that will delay its practical application for years.

Another dud?

Recent agreements that the Philippines has sought have all been based on the assumption that SMRs are the most sensible direction for the country’s hoped-for foray into nuclear energy. Last month, the US announced it would begin discussions with the Philippines on a “123 agreement,” a prerequisite (from Section 123 of the US Atomic Energy Act) for the transfer of civilian nuclear technology. In addition, the US also announced that it would supply both the Philippines and Thailand with SMR technology, although no additional details were disclosed. It was also reported earlier this month that Meralco, the nation’s largest distribution utility, has announced it is applying for a grant from the US government to conduct a feasibility study for the use of SMRs.

SMRs, which are derived from small power plants used in ships and submarines, are touted as being more versatile, cheaper, more reliable, and producing less dangerous waste than conventional plants. On paper, they make some sense for the Philippines; their typical design size of around 100 megawatts (MW) capacity make them a good alternative to truly stupid generation sources such as oil or diesel for small islands and other isolated areas.

The problem is, all those benefits proven in naval applications — at least in the US; other countries, particular Russia, have had some issues — have not yet exactly translated well to the commercial concept everyone is so excited about.

The biggest hang-up, as is always the case with any version of nuclear power, is cost, and the issue is serious enough that it might completely kill development of SMRs in the US. On December 14, the trade journal Energy Wire reported that the most advanced (in terms of progress toward actual certification and deployment) project in the US, one being built by NuScale Power Corp. and Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS), is facing a vote by UAMPS members and utilities in six other Western states as early as next month as to whether the project should continue.

The project, which hopes to have the first of six 77-MW reactors operational by 2029, has seen its levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) soar to near $58 per megawatt-hour. The vote of the utility backers will be automatically triggered when $58 is reached, and if enough of them pull out — the effect of a “no” vote would be a utility’s opting out of purchasing electricity from the project when it is completed — its funding would effectively disappear.

The second big problem with SMRs, surprisingly, turns out to be waste management. As SMRs are, well, small, it has always been assumed that the amount of radioactive waste they would produce would be much smaller than a conventional nuclear plant, and therefore easier to safely store or dispose.

That, however, does not seem to be the case. Two fairly recent studies of unimpeachable credibility — one published this past May by Stanford University and another released last month by the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory — reached the similar conclusion that SMRs are not particularly “clean” with regard to waste generation, especially the type — the design used by the already cost-challenged NuScale project — that is considered the closest to being commercially viable.

“Our results show that most small modular reactor designs will actually increase the volume of nuclear waste in need of management and disposal, by factors of 2 to 30 for the reactors in our case study,” Stanford’s lead researcher said. In its press release, Argonne’s senior lead nuclear engineer said, “All told, when it comes to nuclear waste, SMRs are roughly comparable with conventional pressurized water reactors.”

The difference between the two studies’ conclusions is the point of view their respective authors take toward the findings, which can probably be overlooked since the results are what they are. Stanford’s opinion is that “overall, small modular designs are inferior to conventional reactors with respect to radioactive waste generation, management requirements, and disposal options.” Argonne’s lead expert, on the other hand, suggested that “there appear to be no additional major challenges to the management of SMR nuclear wastes compared to the commercial-scale large LWR (light water reactor) wastes.”

ben.kritz@manilatimes.net