Department of Justice | PHOTO: INQUIRER.net / Noy Morcoso
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has yet to issue an immigration lookout bulletin order (ILBO) against televangelist Apollo Quiboloy who has ignored invitations from the Senate to appear in an ongoing investigation into some of his followers’ claims that he sexually abused them.
Quiboloy, the self-proclaimed “Son of God” and founder of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) sect based in Davao City, is also wanted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation for a string of cases, including sex trafficking of children.
Justice Secretary Jesus Remulla confirmed in a press briefing on Monday that the US government has yet to request Quiboloy’s extradition so he could be tried in the United States.
“We’re waiting for the request of the US government on the matter,” he said.
As for the ILBO, Remulla said he has yet to issue one since the Senate committee on women, children, family relations and gender equality has not submitted to his office a report on Quiboloy’s alleged sexual abuse cases.
“When we get the report of the (Senate) committee, I think this is a preliminary report, we will decide if a lookout bulletin is in order,” he told reporters.
“There was an initial letter [from the Senate committee]. But it will take more than a letter for us to issue an order or an ILBO,” he added.
Persons on the ILBO list are monitored by immigration officers when they leave or arrive in the country. They are not, however, prohibited from traveling.
Remulla declined to comment on the testimonies of Quiboloy’s alleged victims, saying these may later be used in a criminal case “but only to the point where [they] may be acceptable to the courts.”
No comment
He also refused to react to the KOJC founder’s recent accusation that President Marcos was supposedly plotting with the US government to have him arrested or killed.
“It’s not my business to comment on the ranting that happened in the media. I just think that sometimes when we are accosted or made accountable for things, we react in different ways,” Remulla said.
When Remulla’s eldest son Juanito Jose Remulla III, then 38 years old, was caught in a drug entrapment in October 2022, the DOJ chief stopped giving media interviews for several days.
READ: Quiboloy’s camp receives Senate subpoena
He eventually appeared in Quiboloy’s Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI) TV show where the televangelist defended him from people calling for his resignation.
Remulla’s son was charged for illegal drugs importation and possession although he was acquitted by a Las Piñas court in January last year.
Remulla, meanwhile, said he had been working from home because he was still recuperating from a heart procedure he underwent in June last year.
“I am actually okay. You know I had a bypass [surgery]. I just had complications that I’m going through up to now [related to] my immune system. But I’m okay,” he replied when asked about his condition. INQ