Doomsday cult 'forces' over 1,000 children 'into marriage' on remote island
Over 1,000 children are allegedly being sexually abused on a remote Filipino island at the hands of a doomsday armed cult.
Jey Rence B Quilario was accused this week of heading the religious group where "rape, sexual violence, child abuse, forced marriage was perpetrated on minors." Over 1,500 kids are allegedly being held by Socorro Bayanihan Services (SBSI) within a heavily guarded enclave on one of the archipelago’s southern islands, close to an internationally renowned surfing spot. Save the Children has urged the Filipino government to take immediate action to free them.
The group reportedly has at least 3,500 members and leader Quilario is referred to as "The Messiah." The group reportedly conducted forced marriages of underage girls as young as 13 years old, leeched off its members' social welfare benefits for funds and is believed to have links to drug gangs and extremist groups said to be providing firearms for SBSI's private army.
Quilario, right, is referred to as "The Messiah" (ViralPress)
Jay Rence Quilario, pictured right, heads up the cult where abuses have happened (ViralPress)In a speech on Monday, the chairman of the Senate committee on women and children used congressional privilege to accuse Quilario and his close associates of widespread exploitation. Senator Risa Hontiveros said: "This is a harrowing story of rape, sexual violence, child abuse, and forced marriage perpetrated on minors by a cult in the municipality of Socorro, Surigao del Norte. We are talking about over a thousand young people in the hands of a deceitful, cruel, and abusive cult… real children are in danger, and time is of the essence. We cannot, we must not look away."
Fellow senator Ronald Dela Rosa also accused the group’s leaders of using cult members as "human shields" to avoid prosecution for drug trafficking. He said there were reports the group was running a methamphetamine laboratory from an underground bunker near where Quilario and fellow leaders live.
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Ms Hontiveros said a 15-year-old, known as Chloe, was forced into a marriage by Quilario to marry a 21-year-old man when she was just 13. She claimed he locked her in a room with her new husband and told him "he had the right to rape her." She added that he stopped minors from attending school and demanded up to 60 per cent of members’ pensions and welfare payments.
The accusations of sexual abuse emerged when eight children managed to escape the suspected cult and sought help from the local government office in July. In videos shared by Senator Risa with the Senate and media on Monday, the unnamed girls claimed they were forced by Jay to have sexual intercourse with him before being married off to adult men despite being minors. Leaders of the Socorro Bayanihan Services have denied the allegations, calling them "fabricated lies."
Mamerto Galanida, former Socorro town mayor and now vice president of SBSI, said: "It's unfair because our side was not heard. It's not true that we're a cult because we are avid members of Iglesia Filipina Independiente. Our main purpose is housing because it is difficult to build a house here. Second is agriculture, then third is burial services. When someone dies, we help one another. We are ready for investigations. In fact, we're expecting the Secretary of Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos to come. There's no problem with that."
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