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Parents seek habeas corpus anew for Arlene Rillon

One more look at the Kingdom’s children

BAGUIO CTY (May 5) — One year after their lone child, Arlene Rillon, then 18, declared on a national television broadcast her decision of serving as full member of a Davao-based religious group Kingdom of Jesus Christ, the Name Above Every Other Name, Inc. (Kingdom) Baguio residents and spouses Aurelio and Erlinda Rillon filed the second petition for habeas corpus at the City Prosecutor’s Office here.

Arlene, now 19, failed to return home after she was invited by members of the Kingdom to an international youth congress in Davao City in April 2004. In 2002 and 2003 she reportedly attended the annual youth congress but returned home after each.

Her case surfaced in January 2005 when the Baguio City Committee on Human Rights initiated an investigation and summoned all concerned in a hearing on January 26.

Innabuyog-Gabriela Secretary-General Vernie Yocogan-Diano in a press conference initially tags this as a case of human trafficking. She said, the Kingdom transported Arlene and other youth and placed them in a place away from their usual abode and normal activities.

The first petition for habeas corpus was dismissed on August 24, 2004 by Judge Clarence Villanueva of the Branch 7 of the Regional Trial Court in Baguio City because Arlene is not a minor. On August 25, 2004, a case of kidnapping was dismissed by City Prosecutor Benedicto T. Carantes and Prosecutor Evelyn G. Cacho-Tagudar after the young Rillon signed an affidavit that she was not held by the Kingdom against her will.

But Gabriela spokespersons maintain that Arlene and other young people in the Kingdom should be released and be psychologically evaluated to determine the state of their freewill.

The Rillons said DSWD Secretary Dinky Soliman earlier promised to intervene but instead, the assistant secretary for Visayas, Bicol and Mindanao asked the Cordillera social welfare office “to continue counseling Arlene’s parents to help them understand and accept her decision, assuring them that she is in good condition.”

Not quite herself

The Rillons, however, maintain that Arlene is “no longer her usual self, speaking and acting strangely during the brief reunion with her parents when her father was hospitalized last year.

Arlene was quoted to have told her father, “Why are you here? You are not sick. The ones here (referring to other patients) are the spirits of poverty.”

“She did not recognize former friends,” Erlinda told reporters.

Mrs. Rillon recounted that when she visited Arlene in June, 2004 mother and daughter were given only five minutes to talk in private. After Arlene decided to return to Baguio to see her sick father, she changed her mind when a coordinator threw her an unusual gaze. This led the Rillons to believe that their daughter is being controlled by Kingdom authorities.

During one of hearings in Baguio City, a brief reunion took place at the chamber of a Baguio judge and the girl was reportedly willing to go home but was later led to a waiting van by Kingdom members. Arlene was to attend a seminar in La Union that she could not stay even for week with her parents.

Turning to women’s groups

Appearing dismayed over the responses of certain government agencies as the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) whose assistance the spouses Aurelio and Erlinda sought in September 2004, they disclosed in a press conference that they asked the help of the Innabuyog-Gabriela, a working women’s alliance in the Cordillera.

The Gabriela Legal Support Group and the Free Legal Assistance Group are now representing the Rillons in the new pursuit for justice.

The Kingdom

Named respondents to the habeas corpus petition are Apollo Quiboloy, the founder and head of the Kingdom, who call himself the “Son of God,” and calls his office, the “Office of the Son of God”. Co-respondents are Nelida Lizada, Nellie Canada, both administrators of the Kingdom’s main office in Catitipan, Davao City, who, along with Quiboloy, are reportedly keeping Rillon.

Quiboloy owns ACQ-Kingdom Broadcasting Network TV Q Channel where he preaches via MIA satellite. He also preaches in 17 radio stations nationwide. His central administrator, Lizada, claims that Quiboloy has been appointed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as a council member of the Presidential Committee on Values formation. The committee allegedly meets weekly at the Malacañang Palace.

Also named respondents are Mayumi Andiso (Baguio Satellite coordinator); Rosela Escobido (Branch manager of Northwest District); Charly Nerona (Head, preachers’ club); Flor Malasaga (coordinator); Marinele Tolentino (Northwest Luzon coordinator) and Jojo Badar (Northwest Luzon minister).

In an affidavit, Lizada said that the Kingdom has worldwide outreaches and congregations and has more or less 3 million members in the country and abroad. She enumerates the Kingdom’s services as preaching and teaching the Word of God, and as a part of its ministry and outreach, helps people especially the poor, sick, needy, forsaken and the neglected. It claims to be feeding and sending to school thousands of children, and provides them shelter, food, clothing, education, health care, recreation, community integration and spiritual guidance and enrichment.

Convincing but crazy teachings

The Rillons admitted having been convinced by Quiboloy’s oratorical prowess that they abandoned the Free Believers and joined the Kingdom in 2002. Inside the Kingdom, they realized that it was not the religious group they used to believe in that they returned to their original church.

“It was crazy of us to have been convinced by his preaching in his TV station...We discovered that their main purpose was to use us to solicit money,” Erlinda said.

The Kingdom reportedly asks its members to raise as much as P70,000 during the month of sacrifice. Young children, she said, are forced to sell goodies like sweets and puto, in order to raise funds for the Kingdom. Members also have to pledge a weekly P250-300 to finance Quiboloy’s broadcast.

Juveniles serving the Son of God

The Rillons claim that several other young girls and boys are kept in the Catitipan compound. One Baguio resident was later rescued by parents. Another one, they said, escaped the watchful eyes of coordinators and Quiboloy’s own army inside the compound. Yet another was known to have given up a lucrative job and is now selling goodies to meet her monthly pledge.

Around 300 teenagers, according to the Rillons, were in the Catitipan compound, while many others are at the JC Compound in Mozart Street, Greenville Subdivision in Novaliches, Quezon City.

The Rillons were informed that a group of youngsters assigned to give pastoral care even assist in bathing Quiboloy. This poses a particular alarm to the Rillons because they heard that their child now stays in Quiboloy’s house.

Lawyers Cheryl Yangot, Alexander Bangsoy and Richard Cariño cited that other dubious youth organizations soliciting funds for Quiboloy are the Tulong sa may Kapansanan, Inc., the Children’s Joy Foundation and the Good Samaritan. Sometimes, they pose as deaf-mutes or blind, Yangot disclosed.

“These youth should be returned to their parents,” Erlinda maintains. “My concern is not only for the freedom of my daughter but for all those children and youth who are being kept and controlled by Quiboloy’s group.

Confronting an Anti-christ?

Pastor Euphron Von Fedoc, who also quitted the Kingdom said that someone who claims to be the Son of God is actually anti-christ, saying that the Son of God came from God and not from Pampanga.

“Pinalitan na niya si Kristo,” he said in jest. Quiboloy is a Pampangueño.

Innabuyog-Gabriela recommends, among others, that a congressional inquiry be conducted to look into the affairs and activities of Quiboloy’s Kingdom, clarify and recommend actions on its economic activities, the recruitment of young people and study if indeed there is human trafficking involved.

The women’s group also demanded Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to call for an investigation and for Malacañang to give its full support to the efforts at coming out with the truth about Quiboloy’s Kingdom.

Yocogan-Diano challenged parents of young people presently influenced by Quiboloy’s Kingdom to come out and share their stories to warn other young people and parents. Likewise, she called on concerned groups organizations and individuals to extend support to the Rillons. # Lyn V. Ramo for NORDIS

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