Kids in Apollo Quiboloy sect’s care up for relocation

Apollo Quiboloy. Photo from DILG Sec. Abalos/FACEBOOK PAGE

MANILA, Philippines — Adoption and family reintegration are being planned for 32 children who are in shelters funded by the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KJC), whose assets were frozen last month after its televangelist founder Apollo Quiboloy was charged with child abuse and human trafficking, according to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

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Social Welfare Assistant Secretary Janet Armas told a press briefing on Thursday that the licenses of all the five shelters of Children’s Joy Foundation Inc. (CJFI) had not been renewed for failing to meet the financial requirements to operate.

On Aug. 6, the Court of Appeals ordered a 20-day freeze on Quiboloy’s bank accounts, real estate properties, and affiliated companies, including CJFI. This period was extended to February 2025, prompting the DSWD to deny accreditation to the KJC-run shelters.

“Because of the freeze order, we said that we will only renew them if they have financial capacity,” Armas told reporters.

Five shelters

Orphanages and children’s shelters like CJFI’s must renew their government accreditation every three years. Inspections of facilities are conducted in between those years to ensure that they continue to meet regulatory standards.

According to its annual report for 2023, 60 percent of CJFI’s funds came from the “executive pastor” of KOJC, while the rest were from “various Filipino and international sponsors.” It did not, however, disclose its financial standing.

For having no license to operate, the 32 children in the care of CJFI had to be transferred from its facilities to other accredited shelters and the DSWD’s care facilities, Armas said.

“There are kids who are now being prepared for adoption and parental care. [We are] working to ensure that any [ongoing] adoption will proceed,” she said, adding that DSWD was working with the National Authority for Child Care to process the children.

The five CJFI shelters are located in Davao City, its first residential care facility; Quezon City; and the provinces of Pampanga, Laguna, and Cebu.

Despite the allegations against Quiboloy, Armas said that the DSWD could still grant accreditation to CJFI because it found “no cases of abuses” in its shelters.

“But in the event that [CJFI] meets the requirements … they could still be [given license] to operate based on the premise that it has been a longtime partner [of DSWD] and no abuses were seen in the centers,” she said.

Criminal charges

Quiboloy and five other KJC members are facing sexual abuse and maltreatment charges before a Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC), and two counts of human trafficking in a Pasig City RTC. All of the accused had pleaded not guilty on all charges.

READ: Apollo Quiboloy pleads ‘not guilty’ in human trafficking case

At a press conference on Sept. 12, acting Davao City police chief Col. Hansel Marantan said five of Quiboloy’s alleged victims, who had filed cases against the pastor, said in audio-recorded statements that the KJC chose the “pastorals” for the “innermost” circle of Quiboloy from the scholars and orphans in CJFI “when they fit the ‘standards’” of the jailed pastor.

He said those who qualify to be in the “innermost” circle are required to have a sexual relationship with Quiboloy.

Marantan said the victims who were allegedly raped by Quiboloy to qualify as part of his “innermost” circle were made to believe that their virginity remained intact because it was the “Spirit” who had sexual relationship with them.

READ: PH Army probes report about Quiboloy using troops as ‘angels of death

Quiboloy’s ‘vision’

Created in 1998, CJFI said on its website that it was “born out of the vision” of Quiboloy, its founding president, to “reach out to destitute Filipino children whose miserable plight he could not ignore as he toured around the Philippines as an evangelist.”

CJFI provides shelters for “disadvantaged children in need of temporary housing” while receiving care and support, according to CJFI’s annual report.

In 2023, a total of 108 children were under its care, 59 of whom stayed in its facilities to receive “comprehensive interventions,” including psychological services, group therapy, and medical and dental care.

Of the 59 children, 16 were “enrolled” by CJFI’s partner organizations, private groups, and DSWD-run social welfare and development agencies.

Nearly half of the admissions, or 46 kids, were supposedly “neglected,” 10 were identified as “dependent,” two were “abandoned,” and one was “orphaned.”

‘Aftercare program’

By the end of the year, 11 of them were eventually reintegrated into their families. Thirty-eight children “successfully completed” a yearlong “aftercare program,” and “terminated” from the KJC program, the report said.

CJFI takes care of children from as young as 4 years old until they reach the legal age of 18. Most of them are between the ages of 7 and 14.

The report also said that five children had stayed for as long as 100 months, or eight years and four months, at the CJFI’s Davao center.

”Four of these children have mild intellectual disabilities that require additional intervention beyond what their biological families can provide,” it said. One girl could not be legally adopted due to her “intellectual disability,” despite having a certification declaring a child legally available for adoption, which was signed by the social welfare secretary, CJFI said.

‘Homelife services’

The residential-based support program that CJFI provides includes sports and other recreational activities, as well “homelife services,” where they are taught “basic age-appropriate” household skills.

CJFI had a staff of 123 last year, but only seven were regular employees. The rest were “on call” or volunteers.

CJFI said it had “subsidiaries” in Australia, Costa Rica and Japan, as well as “affiliated partners” in the United States, Brazil, Nepal, Canada and Kenya.

In Davao City, police said they were expecting parents to help in the search for at least seven children who were earlier seen in a room where Quiboloy emerged from hiding on Sept. 8 at the Bible School Building in the KJC compound.

What police saw

Former Davao regional police chief Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre, who led the police operation to arrest Quiboloy, said female officers saw the children ages 12 to 15 inside the second-floor room as they were searching for the self-proclaimed “appointed son of God” on Sept. 2.

They were told by KJC members not to disturb the children, who appeared to be “sleeping,” or were “made to sleep,” he said.

The following day, Torre said the officers returned to the room with DSWD personnel, but the children were no longer there.

The DSWD personnel did not consider the Bible School Building, also known as the ACQ College of Ministries, a “suitable place for minors,” he said.

Torre said the building only had bedrooms occupied by females based on the things they saw inside. Amid these rooms was one that was “occupied by a man with the size and build of Mr. Quiboloy,” according to Torre. —WITH A REPORT FROM GERMELINA LACORTE