Travesty of justice
IN a brazen and odoriferous display of abuse of legislative power, the Senate issued a contempt order against Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, the leader of the religious group The Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC), for the latter’s failure to comply with the summons of the Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality. The panel was investigating allegations of rape, sexual abuse and physical maltreatment allegedly committed by the religious leader on former members of the KOJC.
The chairman of the committee, exceedingly and inexcusably ignorant of the constitutional rights of an accused person, called for a Senate investigation without factual and legal bases to give a platform to resource persons who obviously were lying through their teeth when they read from a script the circumstances surrounding the alleged sexual and physical abuse.
That the narrative of the accusers is a concoction is evident by the lack of spontaneity; they were reading from a written narration. Victims of violence always remember the circumstances of their suffering arising from the assault. They do not need to be couched nor helped by a prepared statement.
These complainants do not want to reveal themselves because they are afraid that their lies will be validated by their former co-workers at KOJC, who will recognize them, hence the need to hide their identities.
How can a rape victim keep going back and forth to the scene of the crime for years and continue performing the same religious tasks inside the KOJC?
The claim of another accuser that he saw the former president and his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, landing at Glory Mountain, a property of KOJC — and taking off and bringing with them bags of firearms allegedly given by Pastor Quiboloy — could have easily been belied had the Senate committee chairman had the common sense to conduct an ocular inspection of the place.
The former gardener’s assigned workplace was 4 kilometers from the landing site. Moreover, a check with the record of the KOJC’s chopper would have shown that VP Inday Sara was never its passenger, nor had she even set foot in Glory Mountain.
So is his allegation that Pastor Quiboloy slapped him because the latter was not satisfied with his work. Such a declaration insults the intelligence.
How can such a minor infraction trigger violence from a man who preaches the gospel of Christ and who, by his Christian ways, has inspired millions to embrace the religious group KOJC — and follow and accept him as their leader?
Even assuming that the allegations against the pastor are true, the Senate or any of its committees has no authority or right to hear and determine the guilt of Pastor Quiboloy. It cannot usurp the function of the courts of law and investigative agencies. It cannot assume the role of an investigator, prosecutor and jury at the same time.
It cannot hide under the cloak of its power to investigate in aid of legislation. The law on the crimes being charged Pastor Quiboloy is clearly defined and supported by jurisprudence. There is nothing to add or delete to those specified crimes.
What the Senate is doing to Pastor Quiboloy is not only a gross and flagrant violation of the Constitution but also a waste of taxpayers’ money.
Its consuming and insane desire to humiliate him, paint him as a sexual offender, human trafficker, worker beater, etc., to arrest and to jail him is a glaring and unconscionable travesty of justice.
This lawmaker who presides over the kangaroo court, whose inordinate craving for grandstanding, hypocritical righteousness and shameless exhibition of ignorance of the most elementary requirement of due process, is such a disturbing, if not revolting presence on the electronic screen — is further sinking the institution of the Senate deeper into a quagmire of disrepute.
Tragically, albeit unsurprisingly, the first among equals in the same institution has been irreparably contaminated by the nauseating conceit of the free publicity-seeker by giving his imprimatur to the contempt order, making a robotic imitation of the spineless Pontius Pilate.
Such hubris!