CEBU CITY – A deeper investigation has been ordered on the viral video of a group of foreigners marching inside a subdivision in Barangay Tubod, Minglanilla town, southern Cebu on Tuesday, March 4.
READ: https://mb.com.ph/2025/3/6/religious-group-marches-inside-subdivision-in-cebu
MINGLANILLA, Cebu Mayor Rajiv Enad (right) meets Police Major Leanza Mark Leanza to discuss the activity that a group of foreigners held in a subdivision on Tuesday, March 4. (Contributed photo)
Mayor Rajiv Enad met Police Major Mark Leanza, the town police chief, on Friday, March 7, to discuss the matter.
Leanza reported that the group’s leader, American Derick Curry II, went to the police station last Wednesday, March 5, to inform that the 61 foreigners seen in the viral video belong to a religious group called “Abayonaym" or "Those in Need of the Father.”
Curry told police that they were having a prayer meeting and they walked in single file when they exited the subdivision to avoid disturbing the neighborhood.
The group leader gave the police a list with 61 names.
Leanza deployed police to the area and found out that the Americans and Jamaicans were in the premises of the subdivision but were not residing there.
He concluded that the group “poses no threat” to the community and that the group was “cooperative” with the investigation.
Enad asked Leanza to deepen their investigation after finding out that the group rented 17 houses in Minglanilla Highlands, a high-end subdivision.
The mayor received reports that it was not the only time that the group held a “marching” activity in the area that alarmed the community.
He also asked Leanza to widen his probe by coordinating with other government agencies.
The foreigners claimed that the march was part of their second anniversary celebration.