The Philippines will cooperate with the US if it will request to extradite President Rodrigo Duterte’s preacher-friend Apollo Quiboloy over sex-trafficking charges, Malacañang said on Friday.
Quiboloy was reportedly indicted on sex trafficking charges for allegedly threatening victims as young as 12 years old with eternal damnation and physical abuse.
According to the US Justice Department, the self-proclaimed “Appointed Son of God” required females aged 12 to 25 to work as his personal assistants, and their duties included having sex with Quiboloy.
”The victims prepared Quiboloy’s meals, cleaned his residences, gave him massages and were required to have sex with Quiboloy in what the pastorals called ‘night duty,”’ the department said in a press release.
”Defendant Quiboloy and other [Kingdom of Jesus Christ, The Name Above Every Name] administrators coerced pastorals into performing ‘night duty’ — that is, sex — with defendant Quiboloy under the threat of physical and verbal abuse and eternal damnation,” it added.
Acting Palace spokesman Karlo Nograles said the US had yet to request to extradite Quiboloy.
Asked if Quiboloy was still Duterte’s spiritual adviser, Nograles said he did not meddle with the president’s personal relationships.
“Pagdating po sa mga personal relationships ni pangulo, hayaan na lang po natin na magsalita si pangulo tungkol po diyan,” Nograles said.
Duterte earlier this year hoped Quiboloy could salvage his soul from the evil he said he had done while stooping to the level of criminals in his fight against corruption and illegal drugs.
“Maybe if I said if I have to mortgage my soul to the devil to fight them I will do it. But I hope, pastor, that you will redeem the mortgage. Bayaran mo na lang para ganoon na lang e ipagbili mo, isangla mo ‘yong kaluluwa. And then that’s the reason why I am very honest with you na sana naman tubusin mo na lang ako doon sa impiyerno,” he said.
Quiboloy himself had faced complaints of rape, child abuse and human trafficking, among others, from members of his church in the Philippines and abroad.
Duterte had accepted a house from Quiboloy.
Anticipating criticism that the gift would be in violation of anti-graft laws, the president said he would accept the gift after retiring from politics.
“Ang title niyan nasa sa developer pa kaya hindi ko mailagay doon sa ano ‘yong sa ano. Bakit ko ilagay na hindi pa ako nag-retire e ang usapan namin ni pastor, pag-retire ako doon ako titira,” he said. John Ezekiel J. Hirro