SENATOR Risa Hontiveros on Monday urged the Philippine National Police (PNP) to revoke fugitive Apollo Quiboloy’s license to own and possess firearms.
“Quiboloy is armed and dangerous. His armed soldiers are all ready to die for him,” Hontiveros stressed.
The senator, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, issued the statement after photos and videos that circulated online showing Quiboloy’s alleged private army training with firearms.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) earlier said however, that Quiboloy cannot be considered “armed and dangerous” although he registered at least 19 firearms.
The PNP explained that the founder and leader of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) had no previous record of violence or a record of employing private armed groups.
This was countered by Hontiveros who insisted that the PNP should do better.
She took pot-shots on them for turning a blind eye on Quiboloy’s private army while everybody knows on social media that the Pastor has one.
According to the senator, Quiboloy is a fugitive so that the PNP should no longer hesitate in getting back his guns.
Hontiveros also stressed that the PNP should exhaust all efforts to nail Quiboloy since the fugitive televangelist already faces two warrants of arrest.
“I urge the new PNP chief, Gen Rommel Marbil, to step up. There could be a failure of intelligence if it takes this long to locate Quiboloy’s whereabouts.
Despite the warrants of arrest issued by the Davao and Pasig courts, Quiboloy remained in hiding and could not be located by the law enforcers.
With with his private army, Hontiveros said Quiboloy is a “threat to peace and order in the country.”
In a media briefing on Monday, Senator Robinhood Padilla renewed his call for Quiboloy, a close friend of his, to show up and face the charges.
He maintained that Quiboloy should be tried before a court to avoid politics coming interceding. He also hope there would be no violence.
Padilla decried the issue of press freedom being dragged in Quiboloy’s case, resulting to the revocation of his TV station SMNI.
He argued there was lack of due process after the government cancelled the SMNI license when only one program of the network committed the alleged violation.