DAR sues TV evangelist over prayer complex

DAVAO CITY - The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has filed criminal charges against an international television evangelist over the alleged illegal conversion of a prime nine-hectare agricultural lot into a multimillion - peso prayer complex.

Apollo Quiboloy developed the complex late last year for the international millennium prayer gathering of his followers held last January.

The filing of the case before the City Prosecutor's Office came after DAR Secretary Horacio Morales ordered an investigation of the case.

In a two-page complaint, DAR provincial agrarian reform officer Ronaldo Orig said Quiboloy, head of the "Jesus Christ, the Name Above Every Name," illegally converted the agricultural land in Tamayong, Calinan into a "Millennial City Complex" without securing the required order of conversion from DAR.

He demanded that Quiboloy be litigated for four counts of violating RA 8435, otherwise known as the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act of 1997, for converting four separate but adjacent lands.

The DAR official said Quiboloy's group, which owns four parcels of land in Tamayong, failed to secure the needed requirement from DAR before constructing buildings, fences, and other infrastructure projects in his properties.

Orig said Quiboloy, whose syndicated television program has been aired in various countries, faces a six-year jail term and forfeiture of the land and any improvement if found guilty.

The city government has rejected Quiboloy's application for a building permit due to lack of zoning, location, and re-classification clearances. -