Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 7) — At least 200 children were reported dead in Sitio Kapihan, in Socorro town, Surigao del Norte, where the alleged cult Socorro Bayanihan Services, Inc. (SBSI) is located, Sen. Risa Hontiveros said Tuesday.
“Nakakabahala talaga. Kung hindi man pinatay ng sadya ay pinatay sa kapabayaan,” Hontiveros said during the continuation of the Senate inquiry on the alleged illegal activities of SBDI.
[Translation: It is really disturbing. If the children were not intentionally killed, they died due to negligence.]
The list that Hontiveros presented before the Senate showed no indication of when the children died as there were no organized records.
The statement of Hontiveros, who chairs the Senate Committee on Women and Children, was followed by the testimony of a former SBSI member whose newborn child died after their leader \”Senior Agila\” forbade him from bringing the baby to the hospital after it was born.
Randolf Balbarino, the father of the dead baby, said his mother-in-law even told him not to grieve and instead be happy since Senior Agila said they won’t have to worry about their child anymore.
Jey Rence Quilario, also known as \”Senior Agila,\” denied Balbarino’s statement, saying he was not yet the president of SBSI in 2020, the year the baby died.
Hontiveros previously said it was in 2019 when Senior Agila first sought to recruit members to the cult up in the mountains of Surigao del Norte.
\”The blood of these children are on your hands,’ Senator Bato Dela Rosa, chairman of the Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, said after other SBSI board members denied that there is a policy that forbids its members to go outside their community and go to a hospital.
During his visit to the SBSI community in October, Bato found that babies were buried near a basketball court of SBSI and were later moved to a cemetery this year.
Socorro Mayor Riza Rafonselle Taruc-Timcang told Tuesday’s hearing that SBSI did not have a permit to put up a cemetery.
Balbarino also said Quilario is called whenever someone is having difficulty giving birth because he is considered a god.
Quilario was present when Balbarino’s wife was experiencing difficulty in her delivery. Balbarino said Quilario even conducted an internal examination and evaluation of his wife’s cervix to check if she was ready to give birth.
Quilario again denied the accusation.
Bato previously revealed that SBSI members exhibit \”strict reverence\” and \”blind obedience\” to Quilario.
“Yung paghi-heal niya kuno, yung pagiging quack doctor, naniwala mga tao, elemento yan ng cultism,” the senator said. “Sino ba matinong tao na iinom ng tae ng kambing para gumaling siya? Yung may blind obedience, may blind na paniniwala, blind faith towards a cult leader.”
[Translation: His claims that he can heal and people believe it, that’s an element of cultism. Who in their right mind will drink goat feces to be healed? That’s blind obedience, blind faith towards a cult leader.]
