Any sane man innocent of crimes alleged against him would welcome the opportunity to quash the allegations, speak his truth, and uncloak the charlatans bearing false witness against him.

Anyone, we imagine, would readily step forward to clear his name, but apparently not Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, the self-named “Appointed Son of God” who founded his “Kingdom of Jesus Christ, the Name Above Every Name” in 2015, which grew its branches in the US and other countries, including Brazil and elsewhere.

Since 2021, the Davao-based leader of his “Kingdom of Jesus Christ” church has been on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Most Wanted List for “alleged participation in a labor trafficking scheme that brought (his) church members to the US via fraudulently obtained visas and forcing the members to solicit donations for a bogus charity — donations that were used to finance church operations and the lavish lifestyles of its leaders” — as well as on allegations that “females were recruited to work as his personal assistants or pastorals,” and that his “victims prepared his meals, cleaned his residences, gave him massages and were required to have sex” with him “in what pastorals called night duty.”

A federal grand jury in the US District Court for the Central District of California has indicted him for, among other things, “conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, and sex trafficking of children; conspiracy; and bulk cash smuggling,” and on 21 November 2021, a federal warrant was issued for his arrest.

Meanwhile, here in the Philippines, the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality chaired by Senator Risa Hontiveros has cited Quiboloy in contempt for refusing to attend committee hearings on sexual abuse and human trafficking allegations based on the testimonies of witnesses, including two Ukrainian women who alleged that they were sexually abused by the “Appointed Son of God.”

Another witness, American Stephen Wood, has testified how he and his wife sheltered in the US ex-KoJC members from Ukraine whom Quiboloy’s followers allegedly chased while they were in Estonia.

In this country, Quiboloy has friends in high places. He was, and rather strangely, still is the spiritual adviser of a former president, Rodrigo Duterte, whom he has appointed the administrator of his properties.

He has defenders in the Senate who tried but failed to block the show cause order against him for failing to attend the hearings on his alleged sex crimes and other wrongdoings.

Likewise strange, but not totally unsurprising, the Vice President had declared at a public rally her “support” for Quiboloy and, notwithstanding the impropriety because of her public position, slammed the Senate hearings which she called “walang pinupuntahan” (pointless), “one-sided,” “lahat atake, lahat paninira kay (all attacks, all slanderous against) Pastor Apollo Quiboloy.”

Still trying to worm his way out of the inevitable, Quiboloy has indicated that, okay, he will come to the Senate provided he is allowed, among other conditions, to “retain my right to only answer questions that are necessary under my discretion,” and “retain the right to personally cross-examine your witnesses that includes you, Madam Chair (Risa Hontiveros).

He allegedly demanded that “you reveal the real amount that you paid these witnesses … it must be attested to and signed by your witnesses, including the sources of funds, whether personal or government-related funds.”

His conditions, he said, “must be duly signed by the President of the Philippines and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Martin Romualdez.”

Quiboloy’s counsel, Atty. Ferdinand Topacio, however, denied the former had made the demands.

Again, what is this kind of character that our revered ex-president, the current Vice President, and our esteemed senators are allowing themselves to be the defenders of?