THAT much, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said, hours after the self-proclaimed “Appointed Son of God” Apollo Quiboloy surrendered to police and military authorities following a tense two-week manhunt in Davao.
And the President underlined the Philippines is not looking to extradite the 74-year-old Filipino pastor to the United States on criminal charges.
The US raised the charges against Quiboloy in 2021 with fraud and coercion, conspiracy, bulk cash smuggling and sex trafficking of girls and women aged 12-25 to work as personal assistants, who were allegedly required to have sex with him, and a scheme that brought church members to the United States using fraudulently obtained visas.
They were then forced, according to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, to solicit donations for a bogus charity, raising funds used to finance church operations and the lavish lifestyles of its leaders.
Quiboloy has not been able to confront his accusers.
Quiboloy and his co-accused – four women who were with him at a bunker of the 30-hectare Kingdom of Jesus Christ compound – were flown Sunday to Metro Manila and locked up in a heavily guarded detention center at Camp Crame where their mugshots and fingerprints were taken.
The peaceful surrender came after the Philippine National Police gave an ultimatum for them to surrender, otherwise they would raid a particular building, where police have been barred from entering.
Quiboloy went into hiding earlier this year after a court ordered his arrest and several others on allegations of suspicion of child and sexual abuse and human trafficking.
The Senate separately ordered Quiboloy’s arrest for refusing to appear in public committee hearings looking into criminal allegations against him.
The President, who earlier urged Quiboloy to surrender with assurances of fair treatment by authorities, was precise when he told reporters the government is focusing on the cases filed here: child abuse, sexual,abuse and human trafficking.
It is not clear at this point if the United States has formally sought the extradition of Quiboloy, whose surrender, according to the President, did not come with conditions, after earlier rejecting his demand the government guarantee he would not be turned over to the United States.
Immediately after Quiboloy’s surrender, four days after the arrest of another high-profile fugitive Alice Guo in Tangerang City near Jakarta in Indonesia and brought back to the Philippines to face charges, Mr Marcos said the latest developments demonstrated to the world “that our judicial system is active, vibrant, and is working well.”
The nation, which monitored developments in the Guo and Quiboloy cases, heard the President there would be no special treatment from authorities.
The President stressed the rights of the accused would be respected as the wheels of justice grind.
