Planned obstruction case vs ex-president Duterte foolish; P10M bounty for Quiboloy desperation move

NOT only is the plan of the PNP chief to file obstruction of justice charges against former president Rodrigo Duterte foolish and laughable, but it also exposes legal ignorance on how the supposed crime is committed.

Under Sec. 1(c) of Presidential Decree 1829, a person who knowingly or willfully obstructs, impedes, frustrates or delays the apprehension of suspects and the investigation and the prosecution of criminal cases commits the crime of obstruction of justice.

The statement of Duterte at a press conference in response to a query from a reporter that he knows the whereabouts of Pastor Quiboloy, who has a standing arrest warrant and that it is a secret — meaning he will keep it to himself — is, at best a joke, something for which he is known for, or pulling the leg of the inquiring reporter. It was intended for the reporters to laugh — and they did.

Apparently, the PNP chief is a person with no sense of humor and cannot decipher a joke or a jest defined as "a brief oral narrative with climactic humorous twist."

According to the former president, he has not communicated with the religious leader, nor has he talked to him. Nor has there been any report from the intelligence group of the PNP that Pastor Quiboloy has been communicating with the members of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC). There is also no proof that the two have been seen together after the issuance of the warrant of arrest.

Common sense, therefore, will tell us that there is no way in which the ex-president would know where Pastor Quiboloy is.

Let us assume, however, that, indeed, Duterte knows where Pastor Quiboloy is. Is he under the law obligated to tell the police authorities where the suspect is — and failing thereto commits the crime of obstruction of justice?

The answer is in the negative.

The bare statement of Duterte that he knows where Pastor Quiboloy is and will not divulge his whereabouts cannot be the basis of a charge of obstruction of justice.

There is no proof proffered by the PNP that Duterte committed a prior or subsequent positive act of concealing or harboring Pastor Quiboloy or of preventing the law enforcement agencies from arresting the KOJC head or assisting or helping him in his escape.

In the 2021 case of Dr. Emily D. de Leon et al. v. Atty. Judith Z. Luis, GR 226236, July 6, 2021, the Supreme Court dismissed a case filed against respondent Atty. Luis for obstruction of justice for failing to report to the police a suspect who went to his office and whom he knew to have an arrest warrant issued against him.

In ruling that the respondent lawyer did not commit the crime of obstruction of justice, the Supreme Court said:

"xxx absent a clear showing of an overt act evidencing an intent to help the fugitive remain in violation of the law, the charge of obstruction of justice has no legal leg to stand on."

The PNP chief should not make Duterte a scapegoat for the failure of his agency to arrest Pastor Quiboloy.

With all the resources at its command, there can be no excuse for the PNP's failure to serve the warrant of arrest.

The combined assault teams of the PNP that unlawfully and violently attacked the compounds of the KOJC to serve the arrest warrant proved to be a dismal failure in intelligence, a grave violation of the law on the manner of serving a warrant of arrest, and a display of gross incompetence of the PNP hierarchy that planned and executed the vicious police raid for which they should be prosecuted.

P10M bounty a desperation move

In its frustration and to salvage the service of the arrest warrant fiasco, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), which the PNP is under, announced a P10 million reward to anyone who can provide information leading to the arrest or capture of Pastor Quiboloy.

The offer of the P10 million bounty is a desperate move to effect the arrest of Pastor Quiboloy and a shameful admission by the PNP and the DILG that it cannot do its law enforcement job.

With all the resources at their disposal, they need to resort to bribing the KOJC faithful to do a Judas Iscariot, the citizenry to throw a constitutionally presumed innocent to the dungeon, and criminal elements to pursue, capture and even extract Pastor Quiboloy to get the reward money.

The P10 million reward is a recognition that the people of Davao love Pastor Quiboloy and believe in his innocence. If the latter has committed irregularities and illegalities against his religious community and Davao society — and has a notorious and unsavory reputation for being immoral and unscrupulous — his whereabouts would have already been communicated by the constituents to the police authorities because he would be a threat and menace to that part of the country.

Pastor Apollo Quiboloy has gained a reputation as a dedicated and caring religious leader, a crusader for peace, a philanthropist, an environmentalist and a crusading advocate against communist terrorists.

Obviously, the law enforcers face a blank wall and have to resort to unnecessary and extraordinary enticement as well as solicitation of funds from the private sector to raise the reward money.

Had Pastor Quiboloy received a fair and just treatment in the Senate committee that probed his alleged but baseless accusations of sexual assault and human trafficking filed by unscrupulous former members of the KOJC — and if only the Department of Justice had affirmed the order of dismissal of the said cases by the Office of the Prosecutor Davao instead of reversing it and filing the cases in court — and trying him by publicity and adjudging him guilty as hell, without the benefit of a trial in court — he would have given himself up and face his accusers.

Realizing he would be clamped and thrown in jail indefinitely and even assassinated by those who want him eliminated for misplaced vengeance and political purposes, he has no choice but to make himself scarce and place himself beyond the reach of the law to free himself from undeserved incarceration and imminent death.

Truly, Pastor Quiboloy has become irretrievable collateral damage in the burning obsession and inordinate desire of the anti-Duterte forces who want to cling to power indefinitely — to destroy and demolish the former president Rodrigo Duterte and VP Inday Sara — who are the stumbling block to their political ambitions.

Like the victims of injustice before him who were deprived of their constitutional rights, namely former Bureau of Prisons director Gerald Bantag and expelled congressman Arnulfo "Arnie" Teves, Pastor Apollo Quiboloy is now on the run.

It will not be a surprise if another victim of trial by publicity, Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo, follows the same dreadful and unwanted path.

Having created their own folly, the DILG, the PNP and the DoJ are now getting their just comeuppance.