PRESIDENT FERDINAND R. MARCOS JR.: Marami sigurong tanong.

Q: Sir, good morning po.

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Good morning. Good morning.

 Q: Nasa kamay na po ng mga awtoridad si Pastor Quiboloy. Ano po ang next step ng administration given, sir, na mayroon tayong extradition treaty with the US?

 PRESIDENT MARCOS: Well, the extradition request is not yet there. Besides the judicial processes that Apollo Quiboloy is going to have to go through now locally still have to be done. Because we have — what has been done is that we have implemented and enforced an arrest warrant that was issued by the court. And therefore it is now between – it is now in the court’s hands, wala na sa executive ito. Kami sa executive ang ginawa lang namin in-implement lang namin, in-enforce lang namin ang order ng court. So that is the situation now. We will have to look at that. But for the moment, hindi extradition ang tinitingnan natin. Ang tinitingnan natin ay ‘yung mga kaso na mga complaint na pinila dito sa Pilipinas at ‘yun muna ang kailangan niyang harapin. Okay.

 Q: Sir, good morning. Sir, anong participation ng Armed Forces of the Philippines? Bakit sila nandoon at bakit sa kanya nag-surrender si Pastor Quiboloy?

PRESIDENT MARCOS: Well, ganyan naman talaga. Madalas naman mangyari ‘yan na may augmentation sa AFP. But let’s be very clear, this was a police-led operation. It was a police operation. Kung anuman ang involvement ng AFP diyan ay, as I said, augmentation.

As you can imagine all through these past months na, all the intelligence services were involved. Both in the police, both in the AFP, even our civilian intelligence services kasama lahat ‘yan para malaman natin ano ‘yung dapat nating gawin and what are the movements that can be attributed to Apollo Quiboloy, Mr. Quiboloy.

At ‘yan ang — kaya naman may augmentation. Kung maalala ninyo noong una silang pumasok after 24 hours, 36 hours, hapong-hapo na ‘yung mga pulis. So, ang ginawa namin para marelyebo naman sila nang kaunti ay nagpadala kami ng sundalo na AFP. That was what? About two and a half weeks ago. Nagpadala tayo ng AFP para mag-augment, makapagpahinga naman ‘yung mga pulis natin. But eventually when that was okay, noong pwede na naman ‘yung pulis natin, winidraw (withdraw) na naman natin ‘yung AFP at ang pulis na naman ang nag-frontline. So, that’s a standard procedure dito sa Pilipinas. Madalas naman talaga nating ginagawa ‘yan.

Well, I think what you all want to know and let me take you through the timeline already what happened here. Over the last two, three weeks,  we have been getting messages and feelers — alam niyo naman ‘to ‘yung sinasabi magsu-surrender si Mr. Quiboloy basta’t mayroon siyang mga condition na kung ano-ano, na sinasabi na kailangan, may promise na hindi siya ipapadala sa Amerika, na hindi ano ‘yung — at kung ano-ano pa.

At alam naman ninyo hindi naman natuloy ‘yun dahil hindi naman maaari na ‘yung fugitive ang nagsasabi kung ano ‘yung mga kondisyon sa pag-aresto sa kanya. Kaya’t walang nangyari doon. Ngunit patuloy, mayroon tayong mga feelers na nakukuha.

At we were very clear to his people, his lawyer specifically, na hindi maaari na may conditions na mayroon siyang ilalagay. At lagi namin sinasabi basta’t patuloy lang ang aming gagawin. You have to decide what you want to do but we cannot… We will… We are ordered by the court to enforce this order and that’s what we are going to do. And the putting of conditions is not an option for somebody who is actually a fugitive.

So, this went on back and forth, back and forth for the last two, three weeks. Yesterday, about mga between eight and nine in the morning, we got another message from our contacts na sinasabi handa na raw  siya mag-surrender. Sinabi namin, “very good.” Wala ng conditions, wala na ‘yung mga conditions na dati inilalagay. So, sabi namin, “fine, fine.”

Pero sabi niya sana may presence ng AFP dahil wala daw siyang tiwala sa pulis. So, fine iyon ang ginawa namin. So, that was around na-decide na namin sabi ko by nine o’clock — I cannot remember the precise time — but by nine o’clock yesterday in the morning, I was able to say, “Sige, ituloy niyo na. Agreed to those – agreed to those — to that scenario.” So, and that was it. So, tuloy-tuloy na ang pag-uusap. How do we do it, where it is, where…

At 3:40 in the afternoon of yesterday, lumipad na ‘yung C-130 papuntang Davao para susunduin na siya. And that is exactly what happened. Pagbaba ng C-130 sa Davao Airport, pinuntahan na nila ang compound at natuloy na ‘yung kanyang pag-exchange. Dinala siya, sinakay siya sa C-130 para dalhin dito sa Maynila dahil kailangan ang unang naging kaso niya ay Pasig. So, doon muna siya haharap.

And that’s essentially the timeline of what happened yesterday. The events after… Things that were not really moving kung hindi doon sa atin. Iyon na nga pinasok nga ng pulis ‘yung compound. Naghuhukay nga tayo dahil ang intelligence natin ay sinasabi talagang nandoon siya. At patuloy ‘yung aming operation.

So, that is… That was… I think the — what convinced Mr. Quiboloy na wala na, useless na ‘yung magtago siya, na dapat lumabas na siya. And so… Well, I’m happy that — I’m glad that this is over. We can now resolve and look at the allegations that have been made against him.

We have to — I have to commend our PNP. This is police work at its best. This is what the PNP can do ‘pag led well at maganda ang ating pagkakaunawa at pag-coordinate sa iba’t ibang ahensiya. But this is what policemen do. They go after and enforce court orders and go after those who have been — those who have had cases filed against them.

At nakita natin desidido ang ating mga pulis at ang instruction ko sa kanila itong last time, sinabi ko “pagpasok natin, huwag na kayong aalis diyan hangga’t makuha na ninyo siya.” And that’s exactly what they did. Nakita niyo naman.

You know this is… We had to engage so many parts of the agencies, mga technical, ‘yung mga intelligence services, lahat ay kasama lahat ‘yan. But it was in the end a — it was a police action that brought Apollo Quiboloy to the arms of the law.

The question that is being asked kagabi pa hanggang ngayon, “Nag-surrender ba o nahuli?” I think that is a legal question. Pero ganito ang  iniisip ko, hindi siya magsu — hindi siya lilitaw kung hindi namin hinabol nang husto.

Ang pagkaintindi ko ang pag-surrender, ‘pag sinabing surrender, I don’t know maybe the legalist can explain this, ngunit ang pagkaintindi ko, ang surrender kapag wanted ka, ang surrender pupunta ka sa police station o sa ewan ko, sa prosecutor, I don’t know kung saan. To an official authority, sasabihin “nagsu-surrender na ako, alam ko may court order, may arrest order na ako, kaya’t magsu-surrender na ako.” Hindi ganyan ‘yung nangyari. Ang nangyari napilitan siyang lumabas dahil malapit na ang pulis sa kanya.

To his credit, ang sabi niya ‘yung mga follower niya magpapakamatay para sa kanya at ayaw niyang mangyari ‘yun. So to his credit, that — he was still displaying a modicum of leadership to his followers.

Kaya naman, again, I will stress it was a very — how do we say — involved police action, augmented of course by the AFP, augmented by the civilian arms of government. And — but it was, once again, it was really through the efforts of what our policemen did. And once again, I stressed that walang — kung mayroon mang nasaktan ay may galos lamang, may sugat lamang. No major injuries. Siguro sa tulakan, sa girian. Ngunit wala namang nasaktan, wala namang namatay, walang nabaril dahil walang… Uulitin ko, lahat ng pumasok sa KOJC compound, lahat ng tao natin ni isa doon ay may dalang baril. Wala sa kanilang may dalang baril. Dahil hindi mo na malaman eh, kung may dalang baril iba ‘yung nagiging usapan. Ang instruction ko sa kanila, wala akong gustong masaktan. Hindi ko namang gustong saktan ‘yung mga member ng KOJC dahil tinutulungan lang nila ‘yung kanilang sinusundan na leader.

Kaya ba’t natin sila sasaktan? Ba’t pa tayo magdadala ng baril? So, ganoon na lang. So, again, this is how it should be done. You can do this without hurting anyone. You can do this without shooting anyone. That is what police work is meant to be. And this is police work at its best.

Kaya congratulations sa lahat ng ating mga kapulisan, ‘yung na-involve, ‘yung behind the scenes na na-involve. Ang ating Chief PNP ay talagang all the time ay araw-araw nagre-report sa akin. Sometimes two, three times a day, kung ano ‘yung na — ano ‘yung mga pangyayari doon sa Davao.

So, I’m — it is really with some relief that I can say that at least this part, this phase of that operation is now over. And we now leave Mr. Quiboloy to the judiciary, to the judicial system. And siyempre babantayan natin na tama naman ang mangyayari na lahat ng kanyang karapatan, walang nasasagasaan doon sa karapatan niya. Wala namang ibabalewala sa kanyang kahilingan kung anuman ‘yun. But again, there is no special treatment.

Although he is a very prominent person, we — actually hindi na kung— kahit na may magsabi na gawin natin special treatment, hindi namin alam gawin ‘yun eh. We don’t know how, what special treatment is.

So, we will treat him like any other arrested person and we’ll respect his rights, and we will go through the process. The process will be transparent. Everyone who is involved will be accountable. And we will demonstrate, once again to the world, that our judicial system in the Philippines is active, is vibrant, and is working well. All right? Thank you.

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