The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday confirmed it is reviewing the United States government’s formal request for the extradition of Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) founder Apollo Quiboloy and two other respondents.

Chief State Counsel Dennis Arvin Chan said the DOJ has received the extradition documents and is evaluating whether the request complies with the Philippine-US extradition treaty and Philippine extradition law.

“I would like to confirm that our office is or has received already the formal request for extradition from the United States of America for Pastor Apollo Quiboloy and two other respondents. So the documents are with us,” Chan said.

He said authorities must first establish the identities of the individuals sought for extradition and determine whether the principle of dual criminality applies.

“We have to confirm that the Apollo Quiboloy they are looking for is the one na nandito nga sa atin. And then we have to also validate and confirm the principle of dual criminality in which the offense that the United States government is seeking Mr. Quiboloy and the other respondents for they have the same underlying act here in the Philippines,” Chan said.

He explained that the offenses do not necessarily have to carry the same names under Philippine and US laws.

“But so long as the act involved is the same then it is considered an extraditable offense,” he said.

The DOJ must also determine whether the offenses carry imprisonment of at least one year, whether they remain prosecutable under the US legal system and whether the respondents would be protected from capital punishment should they be convicted.

“We also would have to check na hindi pa prescribed yung offense under the US legal system and lastly we have to also make sure that the capital punishment or death penalty will not be imposed, should they be found guilty for the offenses that they are being prosecuted or sought for,” Chan said.

Local cases could affect extradition

Chan said the Philippines has two options because Quiboloy is also facing criminal charges before local courts.

Under the extradition treaty, the government may proceed with filing an extradition petition and allow the matter to be heard in court, or defer action until the local cases have concluded.

“So, the state here has the option of whether to proceed with the filing of the petition for extradition and then let it play out in court or to defer any action on filing the petition and wait for the local cases to reach its conclusion,” Chan said.

He said the provision is contained in Article 11 of the Philippines-US extradition treaty.

Chan stressed that court proceedings would form part of the due process in any extradition case.

He said the DOJ received voluminous documents from the Department of Foreign Affairs, with about six batches of supporting documents for each respondent.

“The documents that we received from the Department of Foreign Affairs were quite voluminous. Parang each respondent would have six batches of envelopes supporting documents. So, we have to go through each of that,” he said.

Chan said the DOJ is working to complete its evaluation as quickly as possible without cutting corners in determining compliance with Philippine law and the extradition treaty.

“As to timeline, I do not want to give any specific or fixed time table, but we understand that this is an issue of interest. And we will just try to hasten our action on this because I know that the public is keenly and closely monitoring the development,” Chan said.