SPEAKING OUT | Witnesses identified only as “Amanda” and “Jerome” on Tuesday attend a Senate hearing on alleged offenses attributed to televangelist Apollo Quiboloy, who leads the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. The committee on women, children, family relations, and gender equality subpoenaed Quiboloy to appear before the Senate over allegations of sexual abuse. (Photo by RICHARD A. REYES / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — Three former members of Apollo Quiboloy’s religious sect, including two Ukrainian women, on Tuesday accused him of serially raping them in a span of several years.
Their testimonies before the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality raised similar allegations that have made the televangelist wanted by United States authorities for sex trafficking and other crimes.
One of the victims, named only as “Amanda” to protect her identity, tearfully narrated how Quiboloy started to sexually abuse her when she was just 17 years old.
At the time, she said she was already one of the women “pastorals” of the founder and leader of the Davao City-based Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC). Pastorals belong to a privileged group given special tasks or errands.
On the night of Sept. 1, 2014, she said Jackielyn Roy, supposedly one of Quiboloy’s senior aides, instructed her to go to his room and give him a massage.
She said Quiboloy, who calls himself the “appointed son of God,” would regularly receive midnight massages from women pastorals in his residence in the KOJC compound in Davao.
“It’s a privilege to become a pastoral. Sanctify yourself,” Amanda recalled Roy as telling her.
“She said… not everyone gets a chance to become close to the son of God. She told me not to question anything that will happen while I’m inside the room with Quiboloy,” she said.
After the massage, the sect leader forcibly undressed her and had sex with her against her will, she said.
“What happened to me was very traumatic,” said an emotional Amanda, who paused several times as she held back her tears.
‘Sacrifice your body’
In separate video messages, two Ukrainian women, named only “Sofia” and “Nina,” also claimed that Quiboloy had sexually abused them.
Like Amanda, the two Ukrainians said Roy had asked them to massage Quiboloy before he sexually abused them in separate incidents.
“[After I massaged him], he removed my clothes and because I was very shocked, [I failed to stop him],” Sofia said.
According to Sofia, Roy and the other pastorals had asked her if she was ready to “sacrifice everything to God… even your body?”
“Of course, I’m ready to sacrifice. I [left] my job, my school, my friends and my parents. I already sacrificed a lot,” she said, recalling what she told them.
Sofia said she had no idea that “sacrificing” herself meant having sex with Quiboloy.
Nina, on the other hand, alleged that Quiboloy had repeatedly been raping her since 2013. She said she fled the KOJC compound in 2021.
As with the other pastorals, Nina said she would be tasked to stay in Quiboloy’s room for her “night duty.”
“There’s a schedule for every girl. You have to be there and every time I go there, I was praying that he would just be sleeping and not touch me,” the Ukrainian said.
‘Using religion’
“One time, he came to my room to have sex. I was crying. I said I don’t want [to have sex with him]. He got mad at me. He said, ‘You’re going to hell because of that,’” she said.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros, committee chair, said the victims’ testimonies should alert the authorities since the alleged crimes could be continuing in the KOJC compound.
What the testimonies claim were similar to what was happening at the Socorro Bayanihan Services Inc. in Surigao del Norte, the alleged cult led by Jey Rence Quilario, she said.
“They were using religion to fool the people and to commit evil deeds and abuses,” Hontiveros said.
She also noted that Quiboloy was known to surround himself with beautiful women who were selected as members of the KOJC choir.
Aside from abusing women, Quiboloy and his sect had been forcing other members to beg on the streets, sell food items, solicit money and use bogus school documents to raise funds for the religious group, the senator said.
Hontiveros moved to issue a subpoena to compel Quiboloy, who just sent a lawyer to the hearing, to appear in the next proceedings.
“You are not the son of God who is exempted from the authority of the state,” she said. “Your refusal to appear in the hearing is a disrespect to the Senate as an institution.”