Collateral damage, victim of persecution
THE beleaguered religious leader of the congregation Kingdom of Jesus Christ, Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, has become collateral damage and a victim of persecution in the relentless ongoing and insidious political war against Vice President Sara Duterte and her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, waged by an ambitious politician (ably assisted by his factotums) salivating to wrest political power and cannot wait for 2028 to come.
Two committees in both chambers of Congress appear to be competing with each other in conducting investigations ostensibly in aid of legislation but without factual and legal bases, resulting in the public humiliation of Pastor Quiboloy as the latter is being paraded as a sex offender and human trafficker.
It seems that the legislative inquiries were initiated with the intention of forcing him to appear before the committees and failing that, to cite him in contempt and incarcerate him without due process of law.
What is the legal basis for summoning Pastor Quiboloy to the upper chamber’s committee hearing on the complaint of dismissed members of the religious congregation and disgruntled workers?
The complaint by the resource persons against Pastor Quiboloy is that the latter committed sexual and physical assaults against them. The acts complained of are crimes under the Revised Penal Code. The investigation of their commission as well as the prosecution of the offender properly belongs to the prosecution arm of the government as well as the courts of law and not the Senate.
The appearance of Pastor Quiboloy in the committee hearing and the subsequent exchange of question and answer between him and the committee members as well as with the witnesses against them will not result in the determination of the guilt or innocence of the accused. It will only provide a platform and unlimited space for the accusers to crucify Pastor Quiboloy and will likewise give free media mileage to the grandstanding lawmakers in their desire to become politically relevant.
The usual excuse that the inquiry is being pursued in aid of legislation is hogwash. There is nothing to amend in the provision defining the crimes being imputed on Pastor Quiboloy in terms of the manner of their commission or their corresponding penalties. They are welldefined and rich in jurisprudence.
Let the accusers institute the approval of criminal charges against the religious leader and let the competent court hear them. And if the investigating lawmaker is sominded, she can provide the lawyers to commence the prosecution against the alleged offender.
Her assurance that Pastor Quiboloy will be given due process only exposes her ignorance of the due process clause in the Constitution. Her issuance of a subpoena to him precisely deprives him of due process because he is already being pictured as guilty instead of being formally charged in court so that he may be given the opportunity to defend himself in a court of law mandated to hear the case.
On the other hand, the issuance of a subpoena to Pastor Quiboloy in relation to the other investigation being undertaken by the lower house in connection with the alleged violations of the terms of the franchise of the Sonshine Network Media Inc. (SMNI) is evidently constitutionally flawed and reprehensible.
What has Pastor Quiboloy got to do with the corporate operation of SMNI? The SEC records show he is not a corporate official of the
network; hence, any inquiry by the lawmakers on him relative to SMNI’s alleged violations of law is groundless. The appropriate persons to be the subject of a legislative probe would certainly be the corporate officers and not the religious leader.
The issuance of a subpoena lays the predicate for the citation of contempt, given the fact that the good pastor will not make an appearance before the committee owing not only to the absence of a legal basis for the summons but also to a serious threat to his life. The intention, therefore, is to jail him for contempt of Congress.
It is a naked abuse of power by the lawmaking body and violative of the constitutional right of a citizen against being deprived of his liberty without due process of law.
Undoubtedly, the insidious conspiracy of a demolition job against Vice President Duterte, who is a threat to the consuming ambition of those whose eyes are set on the 2028 presidential elections, has indeed made Pastor Quiboloy an unwanted collateral damage and a pitiful victim of persecution.