FILE PHOTO: Alliance of Concerned Teachers Rep. France Castro. | PHOTO: Official facebook page of ACT Teachers Party-List
ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro again condemned Vice President Sara Duterte on Sunday for “coddling” controversial preacher Apollo Quiboloy instead of persuading him to answer the accusations against him.
“Doesn’t Vice President Duterte know about the numerous cases against Quiboloy here and in other countries?” Castro asked in a statement.
“Even in other countries, there are cases of women and child abuse, and even involvement in exporting firearms, etc.,” she said in Filipino.
“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.
But Quiboloy’s camp said they were prepared to answer the criminal accusations before a proper court of law, but not in congressional bodies which, they said, have already prejudged him.
The Vice President, in turn, released a video statement claiming that accusations against Quiboloy were forms 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,” Duterte said.
Quiboloy has snubbed separate summons issued by the Senate and the House of Representatives where the accusations against the preacher emerged.
In the Senate, Quiboloy has been accused of human trafficking, labor violations and sex offenses.
READ: Solon on VP Sara: ‘She’s coddling Quiboloy who’s an accused child rapist’
The accusations have prompted the Department of Justice to order prosecutors to file cases of child abuse and human trafficking against Quiboloy and five of his associates.
Network probe
At the same time, the House of Representatives summoned Quiboloy to testify in its investigation of supposed franchise violations of the Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI), which airs Quiboloy’s television programs.
The National Telecommunications Commission had earlier suggested that Swara Sug Media Corp., SMNI’s corporate name, violated some provisions of its franchise, and those may be grounds for the license’s revocation.
The network is also under investigation by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board for airing verbal expletives in its programs.
Aside from charges in the Philippines, Quiboloy is also wanted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation after Quiboloy was indicted by a federal grand jury 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.” INQ