Apollo Quiboloy (File photo by GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — Apollo Quiboloy denied in a 36-minute video released on Wednesday the sexual abuse allegations made by former members of his Davao City-based Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KJC).
Quiboloy said he was being accused of rape because he rejected the women “fighting over” him.
He said the women who were supposedly maligning him were suffering from what he called a “Potiphar’s wife syndrome.”
“I did not marry. Now, I am being accused by so many women,” he said in Filipino. “This is my fault: The Lord God made me rich. They thought I was single, and they’re fighting over me.”
“And when I say no, they will be humiliated and will take revenge against me,” he continued. “That’s what I call Potiphar’s wife syndrome.”
Potiphar’s wife, Iempsar, is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Bible who falsely accused Joseph of sexual abuse after he rejected her sexual advances.
Quiboloy said it took him some time to respond to the allegations because he did not want his accusers to be embarrassed.
His accusers were supposedly his personal assistants or “pastrorals.”
“I have not spoken like this because these women will be humiliated. They are fighting. It is difficult to say, but they are fighting because of me,” he said.
The religious leader also said that his accusers were trying to get married to him for his money.
“They called their parents and said they will become rich if this happens,” he said. “They were humiliated. Now they are bought and are twisting the stories.”
The preacher did not show his face in the video.
In response to his video statement, Sen. Risa Hontiveros told Quiboloy not to “play victim.”
Hontiveros is leading the Senate inquiry on the religious leader’s alleged offenses.
During a Senate hearing on January 23, three of Quiboloy’s former followers, including two Ukrainian women, accused him of repeatedly raping them for years.
The two chambers of Congress each summoned the pastor to appear in their hearings on the allegations against him.
Quiboloy is also facing complaints in the United States where he was declared by the Federal Bureau of Investigation a wanted person in 2022.
The FBI made the move following the preacher’s involvement in sex trafficking, among other felonies.