Quiboloy's 4 aides ordered transferred to Pasig jail

MANILA – The Pasig City Regional Trial Court (RTC) will have custody of the four aides of Kingdom of Jesus Christ founder Apollo Quiboloy.

RTC Branch 159 Judge Rainelda Estacio-Montesa ordered the detention of Cresente Canada at the Pasig City Jail, while Jackielyn Roy, Ingrid Canada and Sylvia Cemañes were ordered detained at the female dormitory.

Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said the order following Quiboloy and his co-accused's arraignment for qualified human trafficking at the Pasig court on Friday morning.

They all pleaded not guilty.

Quiboloy will remain detained at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City pending resolution of his counsels' motion for him to undergo medical checkup by government doctors.

Quiboloy's lawyers requested that he and Ingrid Canada be transferred to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Davao City due to existing medical conditions.

"Nahihirapan [daw] po sila sa custodial facility at ang decision po ng judge po diyan ay nirequire po ang PNP na sila po ay titignan po ng mga government doctors po, iche-check po yung kanilang mga medical conditions po (They are having a hard time at the custodial facility and the judge's decision was requiring the PNP to have them checked by government doctors)," Fajardo said at a press briefing in Camp Crame.

Fajardo said Quiboloy is taking maintenance medicines and is regularly visited by his personal physician.

She added that Quiboloy and other inmates at the PNP Custodial Center who have existing medical conditions are regularly checked by the facility's nurses.

Fajardo said the Pasig RTC scheduled the pre-conference and pre-marking of evidence on the human trafficking charges on Sept. 25 while the pre-trial will be on Oct. 17.

The court also granted Roy and Crisente Canada's manifestation that they would be represented by other lawyers during the pre-trial.

Meanwhile, the Pasig court junked the motion of Quiboloy's camp for transfer of custody of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

This came after the Department of National Defense formally opposed the motion, stressing that the military is not the proper body to have custody of suspects in criminal cases.

Later, the five also pleaded not guilty to sexual abuse charges during their arraignment via videoconferencing before the Quezon City RTC Branch 106.

Quiboloy's counsel, Israelito, Torreon told reporters that the marking of evidence on the sexual abuse charges before the Quezon City court is set on Sept. 26 while the pre-trial is on Oct. 2. (PNA)