Ex-KJC member says she underwent 10-day dry fasting as punishment

FORMER KJC MEMBER REVEALS ABUSES. Former member of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KJC) Teresita Kinanhan Valdehueza weeps as she relates the sexual abuses and physical torture she endured under the hands of KJC founder Apollo Quiboloy during a hearing conducted by the Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality Wednesday, October 23, 2024. (Photo from the Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)

MANILA, Philippines — A former member of embattled Pastor Apollo Quiboloy’s “inner circle” on Wednesday told senators that she underwent a 10-day dry fasting as punishment after being accused of “fornicating” with ministers.

Teresita Valdehueza, who became a member of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KJC) when she was 17 years old in the 1980s, revealed this during her testimony at the Senate committee on women’s hearing on Quiboloy’s alleged crimes.

She also accused Quiboloy of rape.

READ: Quiboloy’s alleged victims bare real identities during Senate face-off

Valdehueza, who served under the KJC’s logistics department, said her punishment stemmed from a manipulated confession after being accused of secretly sending money to her relatives and for “tempting” and “fornicating” with ministers, which she vehemently denied.

She also said she underwent periods of fasting for seven months starting on October 15, 1998 at the Tamayong Prayer Mountain in Davao.

At one point, Valdehueza said, she underwent 10-day dry fasting.

“There was no food, no water. I was only able to eat rice and viand on the 39th day because when you fasted, you are not supposed to eat rice right away, so there was water, then am, then lugaw, then on the 39th day that was the time I ate rice,” she explained.

“Am” is a local term for rice water while “lugaw” refers to a rice porridge.

Her story piqued the interest of committee chair Sen. Risa Hontiveros.

“Ten days without food and water? How could you survive that?” Hontiveros asked in Filipino.

Valdehueza said she drank water for her bath.

“I did not think I would survive because that place was cold and, in the morning when I took a bath, doon ko na lang nalalasap ang tubig (I drank water). So I keep on taking a bath three times a day,” she explained.

After this ordeal, she said she underwent another series of fasting from February to May 1999.

“That was miserable because it was like this: We’re given five days, or sometimes seven days. It was kind of a series of fasting. First, second, third day [was] dry fasting, meaning you were not allowed to drink—of course there were no foods—and then the fourth [day], sometimes, its water, sometimes its am, sometimes its lugaw. Then another five days, same pattern. [I know] it ended in the month of May because I have [a] diary on that,” Valdehueza said.

Valdehueza also said she underwent second fasting because “they were not satisfied with the result.”

“Maybe they slowly want to kill me,” she added.