Marcos: Let Quiboloy face PH cases first

PASTOR FALLS Pastor Apollo Quiboloy (second from right), leader of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ sect, is hardly recognizable as he appears in cap, face mask and sunglasses as he is presented by Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos, PNP chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil and Davao regional police chief Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III during a press conference at Camp Crame on Monday. —Lyn Rillon

MANILA, Philippines — Any decision on the possible extradition of Apollo Quiboloy to the United States is now in the hands of the Philippine courts, President Marcos said on Monday, even as he maintained that the fugitive televangelist must first face trial for the charges filed against him in the country.

The President also clarified seemingly conflicting accounts of how Quiboloy ended up in the government’s custody on Sunday.

The televangelist’s extradition “is now in the courts’ hands and no longer with the Executive. We in the Executive department have done our part to implement and enforce the order [of arrest from] the court,” Marcos told reporters on the sidelines of a trade forum on Monday.

READ: Apollo Quiboloy in gov’t custody after long hunt

But he pointed out that the United States had yet to file an extradition request, even if the preacher was already wanted there by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for various sex trafficking charges, including sex trafficking of children, as well as conspiracy and bulk cash smuggling.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Monday said, “We expect the US to file an extradition request very soon since he’s already in custody. And remember we have a treaty with the US despite the law of the land.”

The Philippines’ bilateral treaty with the United States came into force on July 27, 1995, eight months after it was signed on Nov. 13, 1994.

Did he ‘surrender’?

In the meantime, the government is more “focused” on Quiboloy’s prosecution for criminal charges filed against him in the country, Marcos said. The preacher faces a nonbailable qualified human trafficking case before a Pasig City court and sexual abuse of minors and maltreatment charges earlier filed in Davao City and now pending before a Quezon City court.

“Our attention is focused on the cases and complaints that were lined up before him here in the Philippines and those are what he needs to attend to first,” the President said.

Marcos also sought to correct the impression that Quiboloy had surrendered on his own volition. Lawyers of the KOJC leader said this was what happened on Sunday.

“What I understand is that if one is wanted by the law, a valid surrender should involve the accused [going] to a police station or a prosecutor and tell[ing] them, ‘I am surrendering, I know that an arrest order is issued, so I am surrendering.’ That is not what happened here,” the President said.

“The question that is being asked since [Sunday night] is whether he (Quiboloy) surrendered or was he rounded up? I think that is a legal question. But my thinking is that he would not have surrendered if we did not pursue him the way we did,” he also said.

The continuous search at the KJC compound, as well as the digging activities, prompted Quiboloy to surrender, Marcos said.

“That was what convinced Mr. Quiboloy that it was useless for him to continue hiding, that he needed to come out,” he said.

Marcos recalled that “over the last two, three weeks, we have been getting messages and feelers that Mr. Quiboloy was about to surrender but that he had some conditions, such as for the government to promise that he will not be turned over to [the US] and many others.”

“We were very clear to his people, his lawyer specifically, that we cannot allow them to be setting conditions, and while they have not decided, we will have to continue with the manhunt,” he said.

“Yesterday, between 8 and 9 a.m., we got another message from our contacts who were saying that [Quiboloy] was ready to surrender. We said, ‘very good.’ So there were no longer conditions. So we said, ‘Fine, fine.’”

But Quiboloy wanted to give himself up to the military, as he had lost trust in the police.

“So we agreed. So, that was around the time that we decided and gave the order, ‘You may proceed,’ and I agreed to that scenario,”  Marcos said.

Military’s role

At 3:40 p.m. on Sunday, a C-130 aircraft flew to Davao City to pick up Quiboloy, and the military officers on board proceeded to the KJC compound.

“He was brought on board the C-130 plane to be flown to Manila because his appearance would have to be in relation to his case [before the] Pasig court,” Marcos said.

Explaining the involvement of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the President said, “If you recall, the police officers were starting to get exhausted after moving into the KJC compound after 24, 36 hours. So we brought in the soldiers from the AFP to relieve our policemen.”

The soldiers were later withdrawn when the Philippine National Police was again able to return to the front line, Marcos said.

Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos on Monday also disputed the “surrender” claim as “exaggerated stories,” saying that “he (Quiboloy) had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. We were able to pin [him] down where he was hiding all this time.”

“He was caught inside [the compound]. Our PNP was able to go inside and we let them get out. It was to the PNP [that] he surrendered,” Abalos said in a press conference together with PNP chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil and Davao regional police chief Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III.

“We have seen how determined our police officers were and my instructions to them the last time was never to leave the KJC compound until he is found. And that is exactly what they did,” he said.

Marcos said of the police operation at the KJC compound: “This is police work at its best. This is what the PNP can do if it is led well and we have a good understanding and coordination with other agencies.”

Regarding Quiboloy, the President said: “To his credit, he said his followers would die for him but [he] did not want this to happen. So to his credit, he was still displaying a modicum of leadership to his followers.”

Asked if Quiboloy may yet be accorded special treatment, Marcos said: “We don’t know how or what special treatment is. So, we will treat him like any other arrested person and we’ll respect his rights, and we will go through the process.”

He vowed transparency in the preacher’s cases. “Everyone who is involved will be accountable. And we will demonstrate, once again to the world, that our judicial system in the Philippines is active, is vibrant, and is working well,” the President said. —with reports from Dempsey Reyes and Jane Bautista