He’s a famous pastor, with longstanding ties to the highest circles of power in the Philippines. But for the past two weeks, he’s also been a fugitive, and on Sunday he was arrested. Pastor Apollo Carreon Quiboloy faces numerous allegations of trafficking and child abuse. He’s also on the FBI’s Most Wanted List.
A massive police and military force was used to hunt for Quiboloy at the sprawling compound of his church, Kingdom of Jesus Christ, in an operation that began on Aug. 24. Hundreds of the pastor’s supporters formed human barricades to block search attempts. Suspecting a network of underground bunkers, authorities deployed sensing machines used after earthquakes to detect signs of activity underground.
The weeks-long standoff transfixed Filipinos, reminiscent of the way Americans viewed the Branch Davidian impasse near Waco, Texas. As in that 1993 case, Quiboloy is accused of operating a cult and using his power to extract sex and money from victims. But in a key distinction, Quiboloy is far from a fringe figure: he’s a high-profile ally and confidante of former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte.
While Quiboloy is accused of serious crimes in the Philippines, he’s also been indicted in the U.S. on charges that depict a complex sex trafficking, fraud and money laundering scheme that operated throughout the U.S.
Quiboloy finally surrendered to Filipino authorities on Sunday -- and he was promptly flown on a C-130 plane from his base in Davao City, in the Philippines’ south, to face charges in court in Pasig, a Manila suburb.
A key question now is whether Quiboloy might be extradited to the U.S., where he could face life in prison if found guilty of the charges against him.
Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said on Monday that Quiboloy will first face the local charges that prompted his arrest warrant, stating that "the extradition request is not yet there.”
Here’s an outline of the accusations against Quiboloy:
Girls were given "night duty" -- sex with the pastor
From 2002 to at least 2018, the U.S. indictment states, leaders of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ selected girls and young women between the ages of 12 and 25 to be “pastorals” -- personal assistants to Quiboloy who were also coerced into sex, U.S. prosecutors say.
The pastorals’ duties included preparing the pastor’s meals and cleaning his homes. According to a superseding indictment from a federal grand jury in California, the girls also “gave him massages using lotion, and traveled with him on trips throughout the world,” including the U.S.
“Pastorals engaged in sex with defendant Quiboloy on a schedule” that assigned them “night duty,” the indictment states.
Some pastorals were minors, the indictment states. It accuses Quiboloy and church administrators of telling the girls and young women that sex with the pastor was God’s will, threatening them with physical and verbal abuse “and eternal damnation” if they didn’t comply.
Church leaders instructed the girls to write “commitment letters” pledging to devote their lives and bodies to Quiboloy as “The Appointed Son of God,” the indictment states.
Pastorals who performed their duties well were “rewarded … with privileges, including trips to tourist destinations like Disneyland, flights in private jets, use of cell phones, and yearly monetary payments referred to as ‘honorariums,’” according to the indictment, which instead calls the alleged arrangement a network of commercial sex acts.
Money was funneled from the U.S. to the church, feds say
The Kingdom of Jesus Christ sent workers to Los Angeles and other parts of the U.S. to solicit money on the streets for what U.S. prosecutors call a “bogus charity,” the Children’s Joy Foundation, based in Glendale, Calif. Officials at the foundation did not respond to a request for comment.
The workers told the public that donated money would go to help children in poverty, “when in fact the money directly financed KOJC operations and the lavish lifestyle of KOJC leaders, including defendants,” the federal indictment alleges. It adds that his church controls properties in Hawaii, Las Vegas and California, with Quiboloy also maintaining large residences in those areas.
Many of the workers arrived on student visas, with the church paying their tuitions, the indictment states. Some were allegedly placed in sham marriages with fellow church workers to help them stay in the U.S., according to the indictment. It accuses leaders of confiscating workers’ passports and immigration papers.
Citing emails, ledgers and other documents, prosecutors say the church kept a detailed record of workers sent to cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City; a spreadsheet allegedly tracked their effectiveness, listing daily amounts of money they brought in, as well as their immigration status.
The workers solicited on the streets year-round, "working very long hours, and often sleeping in cars overnight, without normal access to over-the-counter medicine, and, at times, sufficient clothing," the indictment states.
Money gleaned from those efforts reached the Filipino church in a variety of ways, from wire transfers to workers carrying some $9,000 in cash rolled into socks in their luggage, according to the indictment. Cash was also placed in bulk amounts on private jets, prosecutors said; in February of 2018, they allege, Quiboloy himself carried more than $335,000 on a private flight from California to the Philippines.
The pastor is charged in the U.S. indictment alongside eight co-defendants: Guia Cabactulan; Marissa Duenas; Amanda Estopare; Teresita Tolibas Dandan; Helen Panilag; Felina Salinas; Bettina Padilla Roces; and Maria De Leon.
The pastor and his co-defendants face allegations ranging from running regional arms of a trafficking operation to falsifying official records.
The church says its leader is being targeted
The church’s full name is Kingdom of Jesus Christ The Name Above Every Name. To its followers, Quiboloy is known as the “appointed son of God.” His church is based in Davao City -- where Duterte was once mayor. The pair maintain deep ties: Duterte recently offered to look after the church’s assets, raising new questions about the propriety of the widely reported financial dealings between the pastor and the former president.
One week after police surrounded the compound, Vice President Sara Duterte -- the former president’s daughter and like him, a former mayor of Davao City -- visited the church to help celebrate its 39th anniversary.
The church has a large media operation, and the pastor has livestreamed video sessions from “Glory Mountain” -- the church’s forested estate at Mount Apo, the highest mountain in the Philippines. In his Powerline program, Quiboloy said last year that his church’s land was proof that God had “restored the Garden of Eden” in the Far East.
One of the church’s key teachings is repentance and the “spirit of obedience to the Father’s Will,” according to its website. Its reach is extensive, describing a “Kingdom Nation” run by administrators who serve “Kingdom citizens.”
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