CEBU, Philippines – After the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that at least 22 minors were forced into common-law marriage by leaders of the Socorro Bayanihan Services Incorporated (SBSI), whistleblowers said that the same minors were also made to participate in “marriage proms.”

Lawyer Richard Dano, the legal consultant of the Socorro municipal government’s Task Force Kapihan, and former SBSI member Lovely Savandal, confirmed this in a message to Rappler on Friday, October 13. 

On Thursday, October 12, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla disclosed in an inter-agency meeting on Thursday, October 12, that at least 19 girls and three boys were forced into common-law marriages by SBSI leaders.

Remulla said that the minors were forced to live with their adult partners like in a common-law relationship.

Diane Dantes, a former SBSI member, shared that the minors forced into common-law marriages were first made to attend what they called a “marriage prom.” 

Dantes sent Rappler a video of the said event, taken by an anonymous insider who lives in Sitio Kapihan, Barangay Sering, Socorro, Surigao del Norte, where the alleged cult resides. The video was taken on February 14, 2021. Visible writing on the video confirms that the event was done on that day.

The video shows a host calling minors to a stage. The males go on one knee, give their female partners flowers as if reenacting a proposal after which the partners bow to the audience, presumably where the leaders are sitting.

“It was too much. They would wed even those who have not yet had their periods,” Dantes told Rappler in an interview on Thursday.

‘Tactic to gain more followers‘

“Murag dula-dulaan nila (It was like a game to them),” Dantes said when asked to describe how leaders would choose the pairings of the couples. 

Based on the former member’s recollection of events, when minors are chosen to be married, SBSI leaders would use the parents to convince their children to do as they are told. The children are reminded that they must do it for their “messiah,” Jey Rence Quilario, and “to be saved from hell.”

In a makeshift ceremony, Quilario, acting as “God,” would bless the couples, said Dantes.

The couples would be made to stay together under the supervision of their parents and a designated officer would supposedly check to see if the minors have “consummated their marriage.”

“If after three days, the couples have not had sex, they would be locked in a room and let out only when they did the deed,” Dantes said, adding that this was done to bring more members into the alleged cult.

Children who would rebel against the marriage would be made to stay at Quilario’s house. Leaders would allegedly encourage the young girls to sleep with Quilario.

The claim was verified by Dano on Friday and matched the testimonies made by child witnesses during the hearing of the joint Senate public order committee and women and children committee on Thursday, September 28. – Rappler.com