PRAYING OVER Former President Rodrigo Duterte’s spiritual adviser Apollo Quiboloy endorsed then presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his running mate, Davao city Mayor Sara Duterte. Quiboloy is shown in this file photo praying over the former Davao city mayor and then two senatorial bets, Senator Jinggoy Estrada and former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque. — Screengrab from INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — A lawmaker on Sunday condemned Vice President (VP) Sara Duterte for allegedly defending Pastor Apollo Quiboloy who has been wanted domestically and internationally for a slew of offenses.
ACT Teachers party-list Representative France Castro accused VP Duterte of being a “coddler” of an alleged “child rapist” and “human trafficker.”
“Doesn’t Vice President Duterte know about the numerous cases against Quiboloy here and in other countries?” Castro asked in a statement.
READ: Lawmaker questions VP Sara for defending Quiboloy amid accusations
“Even in other countries, there are cases of women and child abuse, and even involvement in exporting firearms, etcetera,” she said in Filipino.
“So it seems that Vice President Duterte is setting a very bad example because we believe she’s coddling Quiboloy, who is an accused child rapist,” she added.
According to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation’s website, the leader of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KJC) had been indicted by a federal grand jury in a court in 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.”
Meanwhile, the following are the charges against Quiboloy in the Philippines, according to Castro:
In the Senate –
Human trafficking
Labor violations
Sex-related offenses
In the House of Representatives –
Franchise violations of Sunshine Media Network International (SMNI, whose ownership is being attributed to Quiboloy)
At the National Telecommunications Commission –
Franchise violations of Swara Sug Media Corporation (SMNI’s legal name)
At the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) –
Violation of MTRCB Law and its implementing rules and regulations for the utterance of cuss words
At the Department of Justice –
Sexual abuse of a minor
Qualified human trafficking
READ: Quiboloy may now be arrested, says House lawmaker
Quiboloy is being summoned by the two chambers of Congress to answer allegations against him.
However, VP Duterte earlier said in a video statement that the trials against the religious leader is a form of “violence” and a “trial by publicity.”
“In the hearings conducted, it seems like Pastor Quiboloy has already been given a guilty verdict, even though these hearings are only based on the allegations of witnesses who conceal their identities, and the credibility cannot be proven,” the VP said in Filipino.
Sara Duterte is the daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, who was recently named as the caretaker of KJC’s assets.