MANILA — Around 2,000 Philippine National Police personnel were at the Kingdom of Jesus Christ compound in Davao City before dawn on Saturday to try to serve an arrest warrant on Apollo Quiboloy, the religious group’s fugitive leader.

Speaking on Teleradyo Serbisyo, Police Maj. Catherine Dela Rey, spokesperson of Police Regional Office 11, said the police were let into the compound after initial resistance.

“Kinausap naman, binigyan sila ng 30 minutes para kami papasukin. Pag hindi binuksan, pupuwersahin namin kasi may natanggap kaming information na nasa loob ng compound si Quiboloy at yung mga kasamahan niya,” she said.

(We talked to them and gave them 30 minutes to let us in or we would go in. We had received information that Quiboloy and the others are inside)

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Quiboloy and his other co-accused are facing abuse cases in a Davao City Court and trafficking case in Pasig City. He is also facing similar charges in the US.

In a separate interview on Teleradyo Serbisyo, Quiboloy lawyer Israelito Torreon confirmed that police had entered the compound and that he will 

“continue to observe and we will continue to ensure that the rights of our clients.”

He said he does not know whether his client is in the compound. 

A PNP attempt to serve warrants on Quiboloy in June raised tensions in the area, with KOJC as well as former President Rodrigo Duterte alleging "overkill" and an excessive use of force.

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“Hindi ko siya nakausap for how many days, how many months na nga eh. Last ko kasi siyang nakausap before naisyuhan ng warrant of arrest,” he also said.

(I have not talked to him for how many days — how many months, actually. The last time we talked was before the warrants came out)

Davao City Regional Trial Court Branch 12 issued its warrant for the arrest of Quiboloy on April 3 while the RTC in Pasig issued its warrant on April 11.

This is a developing story