Topacio: Canada’s rights violated

The camp of Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KoJC) leader Pastor Apollo Quiboloy charged police with committing abuses in the detention of KoJC member Pauline Canada. Canada was arrested in her home in Davao City on 11 July.

Ferdinand Topacio, counsel of Quiboloy, said he was also in Davao City on the day of Pauleen Canada’s arrest.

Topacio said he was witness to the frantic efforts of her lawyers led by Israelito Torreon and KoJC colleagues to locate her after the apprehension.

Topacio claimed the police “at first kept lying and denying that she was in custody, even if that was a fact.”

She was denied the right to counsel and was kept incommunicado in violation of her constitutional rights for close to 10 hours, according to Topacio.

Sixth most wanted

Canada, tagged as the sixth most wanted person in the province, was arrested by various police units at the Emily Homes Subdivision at about 2 p.m. on Thursday.

She had a standing arrest warrant issued by the Pasig City Regional Court Branch 159 on 11 April on human trafficking charges with no bail recommended.

“Torreon had prepared a letter demanding that he be given access to his client, and was already in the process of drafting a petition for the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus to be filed the next day,” Topacio said.

He added that it was only much later that day, when Quiboloy’s camp publicly denounced over SMNI the violation of Canada’s rights, that the police gave an official statement acknowledging that she was in their custody and was being detained in the Buhangin precinct in Davao City.