The leader of the Socorro Bayanihan Services Inc Jey Rence Quilario, alias Senior Agila, faces the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs on Sept 28. - Courtesy of Senate of the Philippines livestream
MANILA (Philippine Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network): “There is no truth to that. I cannot do that".
These were the words of alleged cult leader Jey Rence Quilario, otherwise known as Senior Agila, as he faced an investigation by the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs on Thursday (Sept 28), following accusations that his Socorro Bayanihan Services Inc. (SBSI) is coercing its young members to marry and have sex with adults.
Senator Ronald dela Rosa grilled Quilario after a woman testified that her 12-year-old sister was compelled to marry and sleep with an adult man.
"Why do you want the couple to have sex? A child, 12 years old, [then] you will force her to have sex with a man. You already had them married, then you still want to make sure they have sex. And when they don’t, you punish the child,” the lawmaker asked Quilario.
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The alleged cult leader denied doing so, claiming that he cannot do such a thing.
But a tearful Lovely Savandal, a former SBSI member, narrated before the panel that her 12-year-old sister was subjected to such an arrangement by Quilario.
When her sister refused, she and other young girls who also disobeyed where expelled from Sitio Kapihan – sort of an enclave where the alleged cult members inhabit.
Savandal, who escaped from the SBSI compound in June of this year along with her husband and three children, also recalled that the young girls were pleading to return to the neighbourhood as they were drenched in the rain.
Later, she said, Quilario went to the gates of Sitio Kapihan and told the wailing young girls: "I will forgive you if from the gate, you go to my house on your knees. Then make a promise that you will have sex with your husbands.”
In response, Quilario turned to dela Rosa and challenged the senator to personally ask Savandal’s sister and mother if there is truth to these claims.
“Even if we ask her sister [who] is in Kapihan. Even her mother,” he firmly said.
Another testifier and former member of SBSI identified only as Jane likewise told the Senate panel that forcing young members into marrying and having sex with adults is among the laws in Sitio Kapihan.
Jane herself was forced to marry and sleep with an 18-year-old man last year at age 14, according to her.
She also said the SBSI leadership told them that marriage and sex with an adult is required “to be able to go to heaven.”
“Your parents let you marry?” dela Rosa asked Jane.
“Yes, because that is a law to be able to go to heaven,” answered Jane in Bisaya but translated by her lawyer Ruth Restauro.
