Legislators are right in calling out the Dutertes, père et fille, for their emphatic defense of the fugitive Apollo Quiboloy, head of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KoJC) cult, and for their condemnation of what they described as an “abuse of power” by the police in their attempt to serve a warrant of arrest on the pastor.
At the House of Representatives, Deputy Majority Leader Rep. Janette Garin stressed, “As a mother, a woman, I cannot remain silent in the face of VP Sara Duterte’s statement concerning the KoJC and the ongoing legal actions against its leader.”
In November 2021, Quiboloy, whom former President Rodrigo Duterte regards as his spiritual adviser, was indicted by federal prosecutors in Los Angeles, California for allegedly running a sex trafficking operation that threatened victims as young as 12 with “eternal damnation” and physical abuse. A warrant for his arrest was issued on 10 November 2021.
The following year, on 22 February, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued “wanted” posters of Quibuloy and two other KoJC members for their alleged part in a labor trafficking scheme. In December, the US Department of the Treasury sanctioned Quiboloy over alleged “serious human rights abuse, including a pattern of systemic and pervasive rape of girls as young as 11 years old for more than a decade.”
Meanwhile, testimonies of victims allegedly exploited and/or sexually abused by Quiboloy were revealed at the Senate by Sen. Risa Hontiveros in December 2023.
In January 2024, Quiboloy snubbed a Senate hearing, prompting the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality chaired by Hontiveros to subpoena him.
A second subpoena was issued to Quiboloy in February 2024, with Hontiveros warning he would be arrested if he continued to skip the hearing. Quiboloy claimed he was in hiding because of threats to his life and because the FBI had a $2-million bounty for his arrest, a claim the agency denied.
In the same month, the House Committee on Legislative Franchises issued a subpoena to Quiboloy for failing to attend hearings in connection with a probe into alleged violations by Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI) of its franchise to operate. Quiboloy is SMNI chairman.
In March 2024, a Central District of California judge ordered arrest warrants for Quiboloy and his co-accused over charges of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud, coercion, sex trafficking of children, and cash smuggling.
On 19 March 2024, the Senate issued an arrest order for Quiboloy for refusing to appear at committee hearings despite due notices.
The Department of Justice also announced that qualified human trafficking charges were filed against Quiboloy before a Pasig City Court, while charges under Republic Act 7610, or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act, were filed against him before a Davao City court.
Giving all sorts of excuses, Quiboloy did not show up at any of the hearings. Finally, on 24 August 2024, the Philippine National Police, armed with arrest warrants for Quiboloy for child sexual abuse and human trafficking, launched a second attempt to arrest him at his KoJC compound.
Quiboloy, who proclaims himself “the Appointed Son of God,” remains on the FBI’s most wanted list.
His followers have resisted moves by the police to search the compound for their leader. Meanwhile, former President Rodrigo Duterte slammed the Marcos administration for “blatantly violating the constitutional rights of Filipinos.”
This is the same man who, in a speech before the police in Cavite on 3 December 2020, told officers of the law to shoot first and don’t worry about human rights.
“All addicts have guns. If there’s even a hint of wrongdoing, any overt act, even if you don’t see a gun, just go ahead and shoot them,” he said in Filipino.
“For me, I don’t care about human rights...I will assume full legal responsibility. I will face those human rights, not you…you are preoccupied with the lives of the criminals and drug pushers, the game is killing...I say to the human rights (sic), I don’t give a shit with you,” he loudly declared.
For her part, Vice President Sara Duterte has condemned what she called the “abuse of power” by the police in searching for Quiboloy at the KoJC compound, putting the blame on President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and apologizing to the KoJC members for convincing them to vote for him in the last elections.
In reaction, Representative Garin said, “While the VP expresses concern over the police’s implementation of lawful warrants, I find it disturbing that her sympathies appear to lie more with a powerful figure wanted for serious crimes rather than with the vulnerable women and minors who suffered at the hands of an accused predator.”