DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 06 February) — Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy, the self-styled “appointed son of God” and founder of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, The Name Above Every Name (KOJC) is not in hiding after being placed on a “wanted” list by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), his lawyer said.
Quiboloy even appeared in his television program live from Davao City on Saturday evening.
Ferdinand Topacio, KOJC legal counsel in Metro Manila, told a press conference on Sunday that the release of the “wanted poster” was not even necessary.
He said posters are necessary only to give notice to the public about a person and to gather information on his whereabouts.
“Wala bang nakakilala kay Pastor Quiboloy kung anong hitsura nya? I-Google lang eh tapos na ang usapan. Wala bang nakakalam kung nasaan sya? eh sa Youtube lang ang solusyon tapos na ang usapan (Does anyone know who Pastor Quiboloy is or how he looks? Just google. Does anyone know where he lives? Youtube is the solution), he said.
Quiboloy, who refers to himself as “the appointed son of God,” is a close friend and spiritual adviser of President Rodrigo Duterte
Quiboloy is based in Davao City but the FBI said he “has ties to Calabasas, California, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Kapolei, Hawaii.”
Topacio said they will not ask for “any special favor” from President Duterte should the US Department of State make a request to extradite Quiboloy to stand trial on the numerous charges filed against him.
He said Duterte need not intervene as the 1987 Constitution is “redolent with guarantees protecting individual rights,” including, among others, due process of law.
“All that the President has to do, under his oath, is to faithfully comply with all the laws and to faithfully execute the laws is to see to it that justice is done under our democratic and republican system of government.” he said.
Topacio said the US State Department would need to submit a request to its Philippine counterpart, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), “with respect to the warrant and indictment if they wish to request for extradition” under the 1995 Extradition Treaty between the US and the Philippines.
The FBI issued a “wanted poster” of Quiboloy who was indicted by a federal grand jury in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, Santa Ana, California, for conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion and sex trafficking of children; sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion; conspiracy; and bulk cash smuggling, and on November 10, 2021, a federal warrant was issued for his arrest.
He said the DFA is bound to make a preliminary determination whether there is probable cause to file a petition for extradition before the Philippine courts.
“The first thing that the DFA will do is whether the request for extradition falls under any of the grounds stated in 1995 Extradition Treaty. After which, the DFA makes preliminary finding or determination as to whether or not there is probable cause to request or file a formal petition for extradition before our courts but, of course, the DFA, not being equipped to do that, it will endorse to the DOJ under the Revised Administrative Code,” he said.
If there is determination of probable cause, he said the DOJ will file a petition for extradition before a Regional Trial Court.
“That decision by a court of general jurisdiction, meaning the RTC, is appealable to Court of Appeals… and any appeal will be a supersedeas to the execution of any writ of extradition, meaning the implementation of the writ is suspended in the meantime that there is a pending appeal before a Court of Appeals,” he said.
He assured they would comply with the decision of the court in case the petition for extradition is granted.
Topacio and Atty. Michael Jay Green, general counsel of KOJC, dismissed the accounts of witnesses that got the federal grand jury to issue an indictment against Quiboloy and his other top administrators as mere lies.
Green said an indictment by the grand jury is not yet conviction.
“Why should we prove our innocence? The Constitution presumes our innocence. It’s the prosecution that has to prove that pastor is guilty… There is a process if the court say that he has to be extradited then we will follow what the law says,” Topacio said.
According to the FBI, Quiboloy, Teresita Tolibas Dandan, and Helen Panilag are wanted for their alleged participation in a labor trafficking scheme that brought church members to the US, via fraudulently obtained visas, and forced the members to solicit donations for a bogus charity, donations that actually were used to finance church operations and the lavish lifestyles of its leaders.
It said that “members who proved successful at soliciting for the church allegedly were forced to enter into sham marriages or obtain fraudulent student visas to continue soliciting in the United States year-round.”
The superseding indictment released by the US Department of Justice in November 2021 alleged that females were recruited to work as personal assistants, or “pastorals,” for Quiboloy and that victims prepared his meals, cleaned his residences, gave him massages and were required to have sex with Quiboloy in what the pastorals called “night duty.”
Dandan, the alleged “international administrator” who was one of the top overseers of the church and the bogus charity operations in the US, allegedly “played a central role in recruiting female victims, including minor victims” while Panilag, the alleged one-time top church administrator in the United States, oversaw the collection of financial data from church operations around the globe. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)