Cult leader charged with child abuse

MANILA, Philippines - A 47-year-old man who proclaimed himself to be the leader of a cult in Camarin, Caloocan City was arrested and charged for allegedly recruiting minors and using them in illegal activities to earn money for his cult, police said yesterday.

Joseph Malazarte, known as King President Joseph Jedidiah Melchizedek Messiah Segovia Malazarte among the members of the “17th Seals” cult, was arrested last Sept. 30 after the mother of a boy who had been missing for at least three weeks complained that her son was in the cult leader’s house in Barangay 178, Caloocan police chief Senior Superintendent Ariel Arcinas told The STAR.

According to investigators, Malazarte works as a power plant mechanic and is a former Scout Ranger. Police officers filed charges of human trafficking (Republic Act 9208) with the city prosecutor’s office, but Assistant City Prosecutor Ma. Victoria Luz Villarojo charged Malazarte with child abuse (Republic Act 7610) and set bail at P80,000.

Erlinda Ortiz told police that she found out her son and several other children, ranging from 12 to 14 years old, had been recruited and were staying at Malazarte’s house.

Chief Inspector Fernando Reyes, North Caloocan Sub-station 5 commander, said at least 20 children were in the house when the raid took place but they ran in different directions and only eight children – five girls and three boys – were left behind.

Malazarte said the children were not being held against their will and that their stay in his house was part of their religion. The children confirmed Malazarte’s claim and told police they were not forced to do the things they were doing.

Reyes said the children would collect garbage in the morning and sell it to junkyards to buy food for the members of the cult. He alleged that at night, “they would steal anything and bring it to Malazarte.”

“Some of the children we interviewed told us that they prefer to stay with Malazarte rather than go back to their parents,” Reyes said.

A mother of one of the girls was worried that the children had undergone hypnosis and was under Malazarte’s spell.

“We do not know what he did to these children. It is impossible for these kids to behave like this if he had not done anything,” she said.