A Filipino pastor and ex-associate of ex-President Rodrigo Duterte, Apollo Quiboloy, has been apprehended and charged with sex trafficking. On Sunday, the Department of Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos shared the decision in a short statement on his social media account. No information regarding the circumstances and location of his arrest has been released.
Quiboloy, who has tagged himself as the “owner of the universe” and the “appointed son of God,” was reported to be in a bunker inside the sprawling Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) church in Davao City, Duterte’s home base.
Confirming the news, regional police director Nicolas Torre said that Quiboloy has voluntarily yielded to the authorities. In June, the Department of Justice in the Philippines accused him of sexual abuse and subsequently released an arrest warrant. Five other members of the church have also been charged with qualified human trafficking and acts of child abuse.
On Sunday, the government mobilized about 3,000 policemen to the church compound after conducting operations in it for the last two weeks. Duterte and his friends before that cast a negative light against the police apprehension of Quiboloy.
Quiboloy also said that his situation was worsened when Ferdinand Marcos Jr. became the president of the Philippines in 2022, stating that Marcos, the FBI, and the CIA are plotting to have him extradited. He had forced the government to give him a guarantee as to his surrender, declaring that he would defend the charges in the Philippines
They charged Quiboloy for sex trafficking in 2021 wherein girls and women between the age of 12 to 25 were provided with food by the accused and compelling them to work as personal assistants and subjected them for sex.
