Weak Institutions and the Rise of Senyor Agila
Written sometime in October 2023
Socorro Bayanihan Services Incorporated (SBSI) recently became the public spotlight of controversy and debate. This is after Senate investigations and news outlets revealed the organization’s alleged systemic forced marriages, sexual abuses, hard labor, and exploitations all clad with divine justifications. This unveiled horrendous practices rendered the SBSI to earn the moniker of a “cult” from the public. The present figurehead and the mastermind of all the alleged “cult” practices is this certain Jay Rence Quilario who being revered within the organization as the reincarnation of Jesus and the world’s new savior. This consecration of him was designated after he allegedly precisely predicted an earthquake, could cease a rain, and could make the birds sing. The immoral practices he facilitated within SBSI have to be abhorred and must be condemned accordingly in the process of laws.
In this essay, I will discuss the issue that surrounds SBSI and Quilario, first, in relation to the concept of Leviathan from Thomas Hobbes, and second, on the government’s seemingly weak response to the issue. All in all, this discussion emphasized the common theme of weak institutions as the impetus to the rise of Quilario and its SBSI organization.
The Leviathan
Cults and quasi-religious groups are symptoms of societies that have failed, weak, or nonexistent social and political institutions. If we utilize the words of Thomas Hobbes — an English political thinker-, there is a need for a Leviathan — a menacing figure that monopolizes violence and centralizes authority to which all people submit their will. The Leviathan, as Hobbes aptly puts it, is in the form of a commonwealth or government that exercises power over its subjects — the people — to uphold their welfare and liberty. If bereft of any effective social and political institutions, things will proceed to an uncertain and sometimes dangerous path. Or, if in case they do actually have, they may be not instrumental or effective enough in rendering their services which in turn its presence is not felt by the people. In general, the absence or failure of a government or a Leviathan, in the mind of Hobbes, refers to the phenomenon of “warre” — a state of condition where life is “solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short.” In other words, generally, without the government, looming chaos and anarchy will prevail where life is “solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short”. In times of uncertainty and danger particularly where institutions in the form of a government are absent, ineffective, or weak, people would normally seek alternative solace and refuge. This is where SBSI and other quasi-religious groups come in.
Common among them is they seek to offer security and welfare that are often sizzled and clad with exaggerated rhetoric of divine salvation from societal uncertainties. In relation to SBSI, the en masse enlistment and migration of people to Sitio Kapihan, the headquarters of SBSI, commenced when a series of earthquakes struck Surigao and Siargao in 2017 and 2019 respectively which the organization allegedly predicted through its doomsday prediction. This became their impetus to have scores of settlers and believers within the organization. Consequently, a de facto makeshift government was established within SBSI wherein Quilario, infamously known as Senyor Agila, is the President. His designation as the ruler, the President, and the reincarnation of Jesus cloaked him as the ultimate authority within SBSI. In relation to the discussion, he is the Leviathan of the makeshift government in SBSI. Consequentially, alleged private militia training is conducted to prepare its believers to become “Soldiers of God”. Security checkpoints and fences were also being built around their headquarters. Members are obliged to render contributions either financially or manpower to the organization. Disputes and resolutions of conflicts were lodged with him. Likewise, he has the ultimate say in solemnizing marriages in a capricious manner where he will be the one to choose who will get married to whom, minors are allegedly included. These acts are manifestations of the consolidation of power of Quilario as the Leviathan within SBSI.
In sum, the earthquake in particular that SBSI allegedly precisely predicted through their doomsday prediction posed uncertainty and danger. This uncertainty then led to mass exploitation as exhibited by the en masse enlistment of people to affiliate with SBSI which assured them of security and salvation, perhaps something they did not intrinsically feel with the legitimate social and political institutions they have in their locality. The swath of people committing to SBSI and the authority Quilario exercises as the President and revered Messiah converted the organization to exhibit institutional facilitation to operate. In turn, the Leviathan within the SBSI, albeit self-proclaimed, is a Messiah.
Beyond Cults and Labels: Immorality and Accountability
To reiterate, the practices initiated within SBSI, particularly under the stint of Quilario and his underlings, have to be profoundly condemned and must be dealt with accordingly in the process of laws. But beyond labels of a cult, what Quilario did in SBSI, the exploitations and sexual abuses justified by his alleged Messianic whims and caprices, though maybe stripped anymore of divine rationalizations and justifications, may also very well happen even in most innocent labels like established belief systems and those outside the corridors of religion. Immorality does not reside in labels and organizations after all. It resides in the heart of men. It is much more indignant if such immoral intent is being utilized to exploit the most vulnerable, specially the poor, powerless, and innocent. This immorality if remains unshackled and unrestrained may render into a despotic tendency if exhibited through a bureaucratic institutional level, similar to the makeshift government of SBSI where Quilario facilitated his exploitations and abuses. These circumstances demand the need for accountability and empowered people to scrutinize and protest immoral practices that are detrimental to society at large.
Other than SBSI, accountability needs to be afforded as to why this systemic immoral exploitation has not been scrutinized by government institutions and revealed to the public until just recently. If without the Senate investigations, these exploitations will surely continue to reign and perhaps a much worse horrifying scenario will happen. This circumstance traces to the very impetus as to why SBSI has succeeded in having en masse enlistment of people to its organizations as discussed in the preceding paragraphs: weak institutions.
The weak institutional response of the government has contributed to the controversial practices of SBSI under the whims of Quilario. First, worthy to note at this point is the consistent prioritization of confidential funds by no other than the concurrent Vice President and Secretary of Education, Sara Duterte. The lumps of confidential funds she had consumed and still currently insists for the department she heads failed to monitor the en masse dropping out of pupils and mass resignations of teachers which may link to SBSI. Perhaps not even a speck of intel has been lodged on her and the department she heads about the existence of such practice in the organization. If the confidential funds were truly utilized for intelligence as she claimed, then the manifestation of the SBSI case exhibited the contrary.
Second, as to the involvement of police officers in the existence of an alleged private militia within SBSI. The weak institutional response contributed to and exacerbated the horrendous experiences within SBSI. Accountability again has to be demanded as to why the National Police and the DILG have not been able to take cognizance of AWOL police officers within their institution who joined and later took part in the existence of a private militia within SBSI. A lesson has to be taken seriously from the recent killing of Governor Degamo. The existence of a private militia can be an avenue to contest the government. Worst, these militias, like the perpetrators of the assassination of Governor Degamo and the trainers of the alleged “Soldiers of God” militia of SBSI, were coming from and trained by no other than the State forces themselves. If there is fervent will and adequate financial support, or in the case of SBSI in branding its private militia as a religious crusade, they have the capacity to mobilize against the government of the Philippines.
Lastly, the same gravity of accountability has to be demanded to relevant institutions particularly the place where SBSI is housed. The settlement and machinery of SBSI solitarily operate inside a 353-hectare land owned by the DENR which is set to expire in 2029 under a Protected Area Community-Based Resource Management Agreement. The government contracted agreement with SBSI also manifested a weak institutional response. If taken meticulously, the government had the incumbent duty to conduct inspections within SBSI if it indeed abides by its agreement. The sexual abuses, the existence of a private militia, and the forced labor are obviously not in the interests of the State and the government, and much more not in the interests of the DENR in having such an agreement with SBSI. Albeit the agreement of SBSI has just been suspended, this came however as a reactionary tale when the public has already known of the existence of systemic abuses within SBSI.
The common theme upon which this essay is anchored is the emphasis on weak institutions that marred the Philippine government. To reiterate, the practices initiated within SBSI have to be profoundly condemned and must be dealt with accordingly in the process of laws. Not just the SBSI however has to be accounted for its abuses and exploitation of its people. On the part of the government, its weak institutional response rendered its seeming silence and absence in relation to the critical junctures that indirectly contributed to and exacerbated the situation within SBSI. This indifference of the government manifested its immorality, thus, other than SBSI, accountability has to be demanded. It is with high probability that SBSI is just the tip of the iceberg. There may be other exploitative and abusive organizations, whether anchored on religion or not, that still lurk which the government and the public are not aware of. We shall not wait for another case like the SBSI to emerge. We shall not give any further space for immorality to gain its legitimacy and incentives. We have to empower ourselves and seek accountability whenever and wherever immorality arises.
