MANILA (UPDATED) -- Police on Monday insisted fugitive Pastor Apollo Quiboloy is still hiding inside the Kingdom of Jesus Christ compound in Davao City despite the pronouncement of Vice President Sara Duterte that the religious leader may have left the city.

READ: VP Duterte believes Quiboloy no longer in Davao

READ: Vice President Sara Duterte celebrates KOJC's 39th anniversary

Police Brig. Gen. Roderick Alba, acting director of PNP police community relations, said law enforcers have classified information that the televangelist Is still in the 30-hectare compound. 

"We respect yung opinion ng ating VP but ang ating Task Force Commander at STG ay naniniwala na  there is existing information consistent na 'yung subject ng kanilang arrest warrant positive sa area," he said in a TeleRadyo Serbisyo interview.

"Sinusuyod ang lahat ng mga pwedeng daanan o lagusan sa buong compound. We are now focused sa mga areas na nag-su-suggest 'yung ating information na nandun ang ating hinahanap."

This sentiment was affirmed by PNP PIO Acting Chief and Spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo later on Monday. 

"'Yan naman ay opinion ng ating VP. Katulad ng ibang mamamayan natin, lahat tayo ay entitled tayo sa kaniyang opinion," Fajardo said. "But kagaya ng sinabi ko ay naniniwala ang inyong PNP, with the information at hand, plus the monitoring ng ating mga special equipment and devices, naniniwala tayo na nandoon tayo sa stage na nalo-locate na natin."

"It's just a matter [of] how to penetrate that particular area," she added. "Sabi nga natin, we have the information at hand. Alam natin na nandiyan siya."

Quiboloy, a close spiritual adviser of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte, is accused of sex-trafficking girls and women aged 12 to 25 to work as personal assistants, or "pastorals", who were allegedly required to have sex with him. The 74-year-old pastor and five other defendants have been charged with qualified human trafficking and other acts of child abuse.

Quiboloy has denied the charges, saying the women made up the charges after he rejected them. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has also placed Quiboloy on its most wanted list for conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, sex trafficking of children and bulk cash smuggling.

The Vice President earlier said Quiboloy had ample time to leave Davao because of the "length of grandstanding" in the Senate committee hearing.

She noted she never saw an alleged underground bunker in KOJC as claimed by the police.

READ: Quiboloy underground bunker stumps cops; some KOJC members arrested

She also joked Duterte could be in heaven. "One guess kung nasaan si Pastor Quiboloy? Nasa langit na siya," she joked.

Atty. Israelito Torreon, Quiboloy's lawyer, also backed the Vice President's statement, saying the pastor could have left the compound as early as March.

"Tingin ko wala na sa (compound si Quiboloy). Through their (PNP) pronouncement klaro na wala si Quiboloy dyan," he said in a separate TeleRadyo Serbisyo interview.

He said the ongoing search, which has reached its 10th day, was now a fishing expedition and that alleged heat signatures being detected underground were just an alibi by police to keep digging.

Torreon said the lengthy search took a toll on police officers as KOJC members tried to stop law enforcers from carrying out the search.

"This took a toll din sa ating members ng PNP particularly mentally this through continuous resistance ng members ng KOJC. More than the physical stress, nagkakasakit na rin 'yung iba but in-attend naman ng ating health service," he said. -- with a report from Raya Capulong, ABS-CBN News