Kulto sa Surigao | Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho - video Dailymotion

GMA Public Affairs

Kulto sa Surigao | Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho

Transcript

00:00 In 2019, the earth was shaken by the faith of the supporters of Surigao del Norte.

00:07 "The magnitude 5.9 earthquake shook some parts of Surigao del Norte earlier."

00:12 When the magnitude 5.9 earthquake hit them.

00:17 But in the midst of the chaos, a savior appeared who promised a new paradise.

00:30 He is the 17-year-old J. Renz Killario,

00:35 who is better known in their area as Senor Aguila.

00:40 "That's what we were thinking at that time that he is really God."

00:45 "Because there is an aftershock and there are tsunami that will happen.

00:49 If we don't join, we will all go to the empire."

00:52 More than 5,000 people from different places, even professionals.

00:58 Like police, government employees, and teachers.

01:02 They immediately resigned from their jobs to respond to the invitation to join the so-called SBSI.

01:11 Socorro Bayanihan Services Incorporated.

01:14 "We all made a mass resignation. We climbed a mountain."

01:18 "The Lord promised us that we will go to heaven."

01:21 "That's what our new Messiah told us."

01:23 "They are believing. If they die there, they will surely go to heaven."

01:26 But the promised paradise became a nightmare.

01:32 "I kept thinking, why did I stay there for so long?"

01:36 The life of some in the neighborhood became hell.

01:42 They were forced to get married and have children with members of SBSI.

01:48 "They told me that I can do it. I can rape them because they are my husband."

01:53 They were forced to leave their families and forced to work.

01:59 The most troublesome thing here was that they did not abuse the children.

02:05 "I really know who caused the turbulence and who forced them to get married."

02:09 How true is it that they were accused of SBSI?

02:16 It's a cult.

02:20 One of the members of the group, Gemma, was a month pregnant.

02:25 Her name is not her real name.

02:27 "All of us, my parents, my siblings, we did not expect that we will live there forever."

02:33 The members said that the 353 hectares of land that was occupied by the SITYO Kapihan was in the top of the mountain.

02:46 The SITYO Kapihan was said to be able to build houses like those in an organized community.

02:52 Made of wood, they have their own family and recording studio.

02:57 They also have their own radio station.

03:00 "When a member of your family is sick, they help you. They will help you to build your own house because there is a so-called Bayanihan."

03:08 Gemma was placed in different clusters or groups.

03:12 "By age, it's in a cluster. It identifies people who can still use it and who can only use it at home."

03:19 The schedule is tight.

03:22 Every 3 am, they are all awake for a help.

03:28 "The rules are repeated every day so that you will not be disturbed."

03:33 After that, they will do their volunteer work, such as planting.

03:39 They are also used to military exercises.

03:43 "As long as you have a gun, as long as you are authorized by the senior, you can hold the children."

03:49 They say that they have their own world.

03:52 But they have things to sacrifice.

03:59 The members are ordered by Senior Aguila to leave their lives down.

04:06 It is strictly prohibited for them to have a connection outside, even to their own children.

04:13 This is something that Alias Beth experienced.

04:16 "Senior asked them to leave because my family is in a cluster. They were not allowed to enter."

04:22 They are like prisoners.

04:25 "You cannot go out of the room without a pass that was given by Senior."

04:31 "There is a punishment if you find out that you have escaped."

04:34 "Sometimes, you will be punished or you will be restricted to a room."

04:37 "You will be beaten there, you will be beaten on the head."

04:40 Since the work in the cluster is voluntary,

04:44 the members do not have a salary.

04:47 They feed themselves.

04:50 They say that material things such as money are also prohibited.

04:54 "Senior Aguila told us that no one can go to heaven if you have money in your hands."

04:59 That is why they are allowed to go outside, but they have to sell their belongings.

05:04 "Senior Aguila told us that we cannot use our belongings because the entire cluster will be flooded."

05:08 "Senior Aguila gave us 40% of the house that we sold."

05:12 Here's more, 40% of the benefits received by the members of the government,

05:19 such as four-piece and pension of senior citizens,

05:23 they have to donate for the expenses of SBSI.

05:29 "The people there, even if it's a flood."

05:31 "All the income of the people that he collects."

05:34 "He said, 'It's okay to ask because if you don't ask and if you are ashamed, you are a demon.'

05:39 We became beggars.

05:41 It's like you are lowering yourself.

05:42 Even if it's five or even a peso, we really don't have any."

05:45 "It's up to me to do it. I am a dosa now. At least someday."

05:52 "Senior promised that we will go to heaven."

05:56 "This is illegal, simple robbery.

05:59 The maximum penalty for this is 10 years imprisonment."

06:02 "The law clearly states that the money is only for those beneficiaries of the law."

06:10 The members of the government did not back down.

06:14 Even the minors, like the children of Gema, experienced it.

06:19 "They were forced to work in their barracks. They were forced to work in the fields,

06:22 they were forced to collect sand and stones.

06:24 He told me, 'Are we really like this?'

06:26 It's painful, ma'am, to see your children like that every day.

06:31 They want to study."

06:32 But what they were most heartbroken about was the order to force some of their fellow members to get married.

06:41 "We need to get married. We cannot go to heaven."

06:45 The 18-year-old Alfred, who was not a real name, was one of the first to get married to his fellow member.

06:54 "The women and children were forced to be paired.

06:58 I paired them when he was 24 years old.

07:00 It was very difficult because we were the same.

07:03 If you don't get the woman for three nights, we call the adjustment.

07:07 We were called by Sen. Aguila. He told me, 'You can do it. You can rape her because she's your wife.

07:14 She can't do anything. I really can't do it because I don't really intend to. She's a liar.'

07:19 Even the minors, or the children, even though their parents were not against it,

07:25 they did not give up. They were also forced to get married.

07:29 "I really know who the first 12-year-old was who got married there."

07:33 "We have minimum age requirement for the marriage to be valid.

07:38 So, the marriages that are below 18 years of age, the marriage is not valid."

07:43 "Child marriage, whoever is in the same age group, or in adolescence,

07:49 can also be sentenced to prison.

07:53 I think that is about 6 to 12 years and there is a fine of P50,000 or more."

08:00 If a family member does not return immediately after going out or going down the mountain,

08:07 the wife who left him will be forced to marry someone else, like what happened to Gemma's friend.

08:15 "She went down the mountain for a month. When she returned to the village, her husband got married.

08:19 It was a forced marriage. If you are the man, if you are the one who lives there,

08:23 you can choose the woman you want to marry."

08:26 "The marriage requires a voluntary entry by the woman and the man.

08:32 If there is a forced marriage, the status of that marriage is valid until it is annulled."

08:39 Because of the bad behavior and the running away from the group,

08:44 some members ran away.

08:48 Until Beth was forced to leave in 2021 and since then, she has not returned.

08:55 "I left my family behind. I kept thinking, 'Why did I stay there for so long?'"

09:04 "I said, 'This is not right. There is something wrong.' I was so blind and deaf.

09:11 I believed that they were right, that God really exists."

09:15 Their stories reached the local government of Socorro once.

09:21 One of the escapees, Marie, whose real name is not known, posted her story online.

09:28 It was only when her husband was forced to leave the mountain that she married someone else.

09:34 "She was forced to marry someone else. We were together for 17 years. We have three children."

09:40 "Because, ma'am, it hurts. I don't know what I will do then."

09:51 That is why the LGU, or the Local Government Unit of Socorro,

09:55 formed a special task force to investigate the truth of what happened inside the SBSI.

10:07 "We thought that only a few people would come.

10:10 It was hard to enter that place because the gate was three layers.

10:14 The guards were fully armed and there were 48 guardhouses surrounding it.

10:20 The government was really powerless."

10:22 This hot issue in Mindanao reached the Senate when Senator Risa Ontiveros

10:31 delivered her privileged speech on September 18.

10:35 "More than a thousand youths were in the hands of a cruel, cruel, and abusive cult."

10:45 "Mayor Risa Tim Kang reached out directly to them.

10:49 They were the ones who were able to save the eight children who escaped last July.

10:54 The next step was given by the Senate Committee on Public Safety

10:59 and secondarily by the Senate Committee on Women and Children on September 28.

11:06 We invited all stakeholders, the children themselves and their parents,

11:12 including Sen. Aguila, to get the punishment.

11:17 This Friday, our team climbed up Sitio Capihan.

11:23 [music]

11:31 But what caught their eye was a cultural show.

11:36 [children cheering]

11:41 [music]

11:47 [singing]

11:53 [cheering]

11:56 The women members were noticed to have short hair.

12:00 "This is our identity.

12:02 Even though we are different, we can identify that we are truly the Capihan person."

12:07 "Potential in the area.

12:09 The people in Capihan are different."

12:12 Their location was also shown to our team.

12:16 "This is the quadrangle.

12:18 This is where we train for our cultural shows."

12:23 "What you see up there is called the foxhole.

12:26 According to them, for us, that's called a lagaw.

12:29 In English, it's a guardhouse.

12:31 The purpose of that is so that we can be in the middle of the land.

12:35 If the heat is too high, like now, that's what they can see."

12:38 And there was already the leader of the organization,

12:41 Jey Renz, or Senior Aguila, who held a presentation.

12:46 He lied about his malicious tricks.

12:51 "As long as you have a gun, as long as you are authorized by the senior,

12:55 you can hold the children."

12:56 "We were shooting, we were doing military training.

12:59 Because of our shooting, we were doing video making.

13:02 It was just props."

13:03 "The women and the children, they were just playing.

13:07 I really know who was the first 12-year-old who got married there."

13:11 "There was no ceremony that happened.

13:13 It's not a child marriage because I wasn't married.

13:16 I'm not a priest.

13:17 I'm a believer of God.

13:19 Whatever God is, He is my God."

13:21 "There's a punishment if you find out that you ran away.

13:24 Sometimes, you're punished or you're restricted in the foxhole.

13:27 And you're even beaten there.

13:29 You get a headshot."

13:30 "Our community is like a subdivision.

13:32 It's not prohibited, it's regulated.

13:34 Because we live here peacefully.

13:37 We don't want to be invaded by bad people because it's for our safety purposes."

13:41 "The people there, even if it's a robbery."

13:44 "All the money that people earn, they collect it."

13:47 "That's not true, ma'am.

13:48 It's all for the sake of money."

13:49 "Our fans are our helpers.

13:52 We all work together.

13:54 We have a tradition of helping the poor.

13:56 It's not true that we get the benefits of people.

14:00 Please, no.

14:01 Even if they investigate this, nothing like that happened."

14:03 "All the allegations, we vehemently deny.

14:06 Because it's not true.

14:07 It's fabricated."

14:08 "More than 1,000 youths are in the hands of a corrupt,

14:14 cruel, and abusive cult."

14:18 "Sen. Aguila can deny that they are a cult."

14:23 "We are hurt because it's a heavy allegation.

14:27 What we call a cult is like discrimination."

14:29 "Our life here is very happy.

14:32 We live simply.

14:33 You can see our faces here.

14:36 Our family is very happy to live here,

14:40 even if it's in the woods or in the mountains."

14:43 "Why are they denying?

14:45 Why are we the ones who are saying that we are just creating words that are not true?

14:50 We know that they are the ones who are wrong."

14:53 "The Mayor decided to take custody of our municipal social welfare and development officers.

14:59 They are in a safe house now.

15:02 If anyone wants to reintegrate here in the society,

15:06 the LGU is willing to help."

15:08 "There are many people who are susceptible to a cult

15:11 because first and foremost,

15:13 they have techniques to be included in a society.

15:18 They always attack people who have financial, emotional, social, or spiritual needs.

15:26 They are the ones who are lacking resources.

15:29 They lack social pressure.

15:31 It means that it will be difficult for you to be able to communicate."

15:34 "I hope that they will all be human."

15:38 "I want to take their lives so that they can return to their homes."

15:46 "Don't judge them right away.

15:49 To see what's happening here,

15:52 just visit Kapihan.

15:53 Then, you can trust them.

15:54 Interview the people."

15:56 "I invite all the curious people here to come here.

15:59 I will assure you that this place is safe because we are not hiding anything."

16:03 "We want to correct all our mistakes.

16:06 Maybe it's time to give justice to what we have experienced."

16:09 In correcting tragedies,

16:12 people's trust and conviction will be tested.

16:17 The desperate are easily persuaded by promises.

16:22 But, they are also not far from being abused.

16:25 In the investigation about SBSI,

16:30 I hope the truth will be revealed.

16:34 Thank you so much, Kapuso.

16:40 If you liked this video,

16:42 subscribe to the GMA Public Affairs YouTube channel.

16:47 Don't forget to hit the bell button for our latest updates.

16:53 You can do it!

16:56 (audience cheering)

Kulto sa Surigao | Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho

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