MYSTERY OF EMMA: Woman rescued by NBI may end up supporting detained cult leader
No one except family and followers of “Tatay Loloy’” got to enter his “villa” in A tight-lipped Emma Bocabal (left) is escorted out by her sister Gina after the raid, but stays aloof. Her family hadn’t seen her in five years. (CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO)
Was she held against her will or was she a willing member of the group led by “Tatay Loloy” in Balamban town?
The status of 33-year-old Emma Bocabal, who was recused by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in a raid of the mysterious mansion of a local faith healer in barangay Buanoy, may weaken the charges of illegal detention filed against Casiano “Tatay Loloy” Apduhan Jr.
Except for an affidavit filed by her mother Alicia, who hadn’t seen her in five years and reported her missing, there is no official statement from Emma herself.
“In an illegal detention case, the victim should file a case. She’s 33 years old. If she won’t execute an affidavit, the charges lodged against Apduhan have no basis at all,” said lawyer Inocencio dela Cerna, legal adviser of the detained leader, whose members call “Dios Amahan” (God Almighty).
To strengthen the case, the NBI filed additional charges yesterday against Apduhan for murder and child abuse.
Apduhan, who has a wife and children, has followers who believe he’s a third-generation faith healer with the power to heal and bring the dead to life.
The 46-year-old was charged with murder and child abuse for the death of a boy whose remains were found buried in a 50-foot-deep tunnel under the mansion in barangay Buanoy.
A separate charge of human trafficking was filed with the Cebu provincial prosecutor’s office after the boy’s parents alleged that they were made to do “forced labor” by working without pay in Apduhan’s farm and residence in violation of Republic Act 10364, the Expended Human Trafficking Act of 2013.
The parents alleged that the boy was offered as a human “sacrifice” by Apduhan but they remained in the dark as to how exactly the child died in 2012.
In his affidavit, the father Eleuterio Repuella said his 14-year-old son Angelo was assigned to tend to Apduhan’s store.
Apduhan was escorted to the prosecutor’s office past 3 p.m. yesterday by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), who raided his house in Buanoy last week.
Apduhan decried the charges as malicious attacks by followers who had left the group. He earlier said the boy’s father was the one who had brought his son’s corpse to the premises and buried him there.
Apduhan was given until Friday to submit his counter-affidavit to refute the allegations that he had a hand in the death of 14-year-old Angelo Repuella.
No one except family and followers of “Tatay Loloy’” got to enter his “villa” in Balamban until NBI agents raided it on March 26 and found an underground tunnel and a boy’s body. (CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO)
Last week, the NBI filed charges of illegal possession of firearms and illegal detention against him for keeping a 33-year-old woman who had been missing for five years.
Her mother had sought the help of the office of Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale after neighbors reported seeing Emma in the mansion.
Emma Bocabal, who is married to a man surnamed Nepomuceno, allegedly joined “Tatay Loloy’s religious group to escape a rocky marriage. Her family in Balamban thought she had gone abroad to work until neighbors spotted her in his mansion this year.
Her “rescue” by NBI agents during a March 26 raid is being challenged by Apduhan, who expressed confidence that the woman would vouch that he is “a good man.”
His legal adviser, dela Cerna, told reporters there were many loopholes in the complaints.
“First, the two firearms which the NBI recovered were not in his (Apduhan) possession. They were found in a garbage bin,” said the lawyer.
Second, the woman has not issued an affidavit confirming that she was being held against her will in the house.
The lawyer said Apduhan’s family is preparing photos to show that Bocabal was treated as one of the family, and accompanied them on important occasions.
“There are pictures taken during the graduation of Apduhan’s daughter. The woman was there. There’s no way she was illegally detained,” he said.
After the March 26 raid, Bocabal was placed under the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development to undergo psycho-social examination.
She showed little emotion when the NBI rescued her from a house described by the NBI as one “designed as a prison” with grills and padlocks on windows and doors.
Emma even admonished her mother for criticizing Apduhan.
“Ayaw, ma, kay sagrado na si Tatay Loloy. (Don’t rebuke Tatay Loloy because he is holy),” she told her mother in one of the few utterances she made after the raid.
Dela Cerna declined to comment on the case for murder.
“I will reserve my comment on this aspect because Adpduhan told me what happened and it may implicate the parents (of the victim),” the lawyer said.
Apduhan is still detained at the NBI stockade.
Eleuterio, in his sworn-affidavit, alleged that he performed manual labor in the farm of Apduhan, while his wife was made a “helper” in the mansion, and their son Angelo was assigned to tend to Apduhan’s store, all for no pay.
“Working without getting paid is tantamount to qualified trafficking,” said Heddah Largo, consultant of the Provincial Women’s Commission (PWC) which assisted the complainants.
She said young Angelo was also abused by Apduhan.
“The abuse led to the boy’s death and that’s the worst form of child labor. He was manhandled to death,” Largo said.
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