Marcos: Pastor Apollo Quiboloy must face Philippine charges before US extradition

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday ruled out an immediate extradition to the U.S. for televangelist preacher Apollo Quiboloy, who was arrested Sunday on suspicion of allegations of sex abuse, including of underage members of his church.

Quiboloy, the spiritual adviser to ex-President Rodrigo Duterte, was booked and paraded before journalists in Manila on Monday, but his face, head and neck completely were covered in a black mask with matching scarf and baseball cap – an unusual sight at press conferences here.  

Marcos said Quiboloy would have to face charges of sexual child abuse and human trafficking in the Philippines before he could be extradited to the United States, where the church leader is wanted on similar charges.

“For the moment, we are not looking at extradition but the cases and complaints that he needs to face in the Philippines,” Marcos told reporters in Manila. “We now leave Mr. Quiboloy to the judicial system.”

Quiboloy was taken into custody with four other suspects – officials from his Kingdom of Jesus Christ church – after turning himself over to authorities on Sunday night at the KOJC compound in southern Davao city, the hometown of the politically powerful Duterte family.

Marcos said Quiboloy was compelled to give himself up after the national police applied pressure and sent scores of officers to search the KOJC compound in Davao.

“He was forced to come out because the policemen were closing in on him,” Marcos said, but gave Quiboloy credit for a “modicum of leadership” by surrendering because he didn’t want to see his followers hurt.

Marcos assured the public that Quiboloy would receive “no special treatment,” although criminal suspects who are lined up and presented to Philippine reporters usually undergo the humiliation of having their faces exposed to the public.

“We will treat him like any other arrested person and we’ll respect his rights, and we will go through the process. The process will be transparent,” the president said.

Apart from Quiboloy, the four other suspects also wore masks and hats. Philippine police officials gave no explanation for why, in this case, the suspects’ faces were concealed from public view.

Quiboloy’s lawyers said the pastor, who denied all allegations, had voluntarily turned himself over to the authorities because he did not want the situation to worsen.

“[Quiboloy] could not bear to witness a second longer the sufferings that his flock was experiencing for many days,” one of his attorneys, Israelito Torreon, wrote on Facebook. 

National police spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said the spiritual leader was taken in with four other senior KOJC officials who were facing similar charges. She said the group was flown to Manila on Sunday night aboard a military transport plane.

During the months-long manhunt, Quiboloy was suspected to be hiding out at his church’s massive complex in Davao. The compound occupies 30 hectares (74.1 acres), the equivalent of more than 700 basketball courts. 

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The televangelist, who calls himself the “Son of God,” is the founder and head of the KOJC church, which claims to have millions of followers here and abroad.

Over the years, Quiboloy built his church into an empire and amassed a fortune. According to Philippine court documents, he owned at least one private media channel, two executive jets, and a fleet of helicopters. 

Authorities in the U.S. and the Philippines have accused Quiboloy and other KOJC officials of victimizing female members of the church through sexual abuse and trafficking children for sex, among other allegations. 

In November 2021, when the allegations against Quiboloy first became public, the U.S. Justice Department officials announced that a federal grand jury had charged him on suspicion of orchestrating a sex-trafficking operation that allegedly coerced girls as young as 12 to have sex with him or risk “eternal damnation.” 

They alleged that the televangelist had recruited girls and young women, ranging from 12 to 25 years old, to work as personal assistants or “pastorals” at his church. KOJC has branches in California.

Under the charges brought against him in the United States, Quiboloy faces 15 years to life in prison if convicted of sex trafficking, and five to 20 years if convicted of fraud and money laundering.

Jojo Riñoza in Manila and Jeoffrey Maitem in Davao city, southern Philippines, contributed to this report.