Can Quiboloy hide forever?

VP Sara doesn’t think Apollo Quibuloy is still in Davao City, that he has had enough time to think of leaving.

Personally, I think wala na siya dito sa Pilipinas. Ako, kung one guess, kung nasaan si Pastor Quiboloy, nasa langit.” https://mb.com.ph/2024/9/2/nasa-langit

By “langit” I assume that the VP doesn’t mean that the “Appointed Son of God” has died and joined his “Appointed Father” in KOJC heaven. I assume she means that Quiboloy is “in heaven” on earth, that is, just very happy to have  escaped to a safer place beyond the reach of the PNP.

The PNP, however, is certain that the fugitive pastor is still in the sprawling 30-hectare KOJC compound that holds more than 40 buildings, including a cathedral and a huge underground bunker, and that they are closing in on him, slowly but surely. Hopefully, the authorities are also watching, and/or have cut off, all avenues of escape so that he can’t do an Alice Guo, if he hasn’t yet.

He was indicted in the US for conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion; sex trafficking of children; and bulk cash smuggling. A federal warrant was issued for his arrest on Nov. 10, 2021.

Meanwhile, the DOJ said it sees no legal impediment to the arrest of Quiboloy for violation of Republic Act (R.A.) No. 7610 or the “Anti-Child Abuse Law” after the Davao Regional Trial Court (RTC) issued a warrant of arrest against him last April 3 for sexual abuse of minors and maltreatment.

“The charges against Quiboloy are not simple. They involve serious and morally abhorrent offenses such as sexual assault of a minor and human trafficking,” (DOJ Sec) Remulla pointed out. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1222218

The game plan seems to be to do a Ping Lacson, as in, go fugitive until proven innocent.

[KOJC Law Dean] ISRAELITO TORREON. It is … within [Quiboloy’s] right to insist on his innocence without facing the rigors of trial. Why will you require him to go to trial when he honestly believes that the case need not go to trial knowing that he is really innocent in the first place. That was done before by former Senator Panfilo Lacson when a Double Murder case was filed against him in the RTC Manila and warrants of arrest were issued against him. He went into hiding and only surfaced when the Court of Appeals nullified the warrants of arrest on February 3, 2011 (please read Dacer versus Lacson, June 8, 2011 SC Decision, 3rd division).

Further, in Pastor Apollo Quiboloy’s case there is also a threat to his life and there is also a clear danger of being extraordinarily rendered to the US because his detractors likewise filed trumped up charges against him there. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php

But are the two cases even comparable? Unlike Lacson, Quiboloy is charged with multiple crimes in different courts here and in America. Clearing him of all charges could take forever. Unless, of course, he is counting on the Dutertes re-capturing power in 2028? He just has to hold out until then? Maybe even fund the campaign of some DDS candidates in 2025 for more allies in Congress?

In 2013, a press release from the office of Senator Loren Legarda tells of the weight of Quiboloy’s endorsement then.

Quiboloy’s endorsement means the votes of his more than six million followers not only in Davao City where his congregation is based but also in other parts of the country and abroad.

Legarda, for her part, said: “I thank Pastor Quiboloy and the leadership of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ for including me in the list of candidates that they are endorsing. This serves as a strong expression of support to the causes that I have been espousing and the programs that I plan to accomplish when I get reelected.”

Besides Legarda, also endorsed by Quiboloy were senatoriables Migz Zubiri, Chiz Escudero, Bam Aquino, Cynthia Villar, Grace Poe, Sonny Angara, Juan Ponce Enrile, Jr., JV Ejercito, Nancy Binay, Edward Hagedorn, and Richard Gordon. https://legacy.senate.gov.ph/press_release/2013/0510_legarda3.asp

Nota bene. In 2010 Quiboloy endorsed Gibo Teodoro and Mar Roxas, but they both lost to PNoy and Jojo Binay. In 2016 he endorsed Duterte and Cayetano; the latter lost to Leni Robredo.

Read also Tita C. Valderama‘s “The Curious Case of Apollo Quiboloy.”

In the 2022 elections, Quiboloy’s endorsement was not as sought after as in past elections in view of his indictment in the U.S. and the issuance of a warrant for his arrest in November 2021.

Even then, the self-styled pastor endorsed the tandem of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte for president and vice president, respectively.

But on Feb. 21, Quiboloy asked Marcos to resign, accusing him of conniving with the U.S. government to get him arrested and killed. He said he had gone into hiding because his life was in danger.

A week later, Marcos advised Quiboloy to come out, face the congressional inquiries into the allegations of abuses against him and the KOJC and seize the opportunity “to say his side of the story.”

“Hindi na kami kompiyansa sa gobyernong ito. Gagawa at gagawa sila ng paraan para kami ay bigyan ng kasalanan,” said Quiboloy, raising the possibility that the Marcos administration would resort to the planting of evidence to implicate him in criminal activities.

… He claimed that the government would “take over all our properties” and establish a corporation under which the KOJC assets would fall under. In what appeared as a preemptive move, Quiboloy appointed Durterte last Friday as administrator of the properties belonging to KOJC.

That was last March 9 when Dutz was appointed admin. Five months later, August 5, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) asked the Court of Appeals to freeze Quiboloy’s assets. The CA obliged on August 7, with a 20-day freeze order on Quiboloy’s bank accounts and real estate properties after finding merit in the sexual exploitation, human trafficking, and financial smuggling cases filed against Quiboloy and four others.

The Aug. 6 freeze order, which is effective immediately, covers Quiboloy’s 10 bank accounts with Banco De Oro and Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. and seven real estate properties located in Davao del Norte, Davao City, Davao Oriental, Mati, and Roxas City. The freeze includes five vehicles and one private plane owned by the fugitive pastor.

Also ordered frozen were 47 bank accounts, 16 real properties in the provinces of Laguna, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental and Iloilo, and Quezon City and the cities of Davao, Tagbilaran, Mandaue, and Butuan, and 16 vehicles of KJC.

This also freezes SMNI’s 17 bank accounts, five real estate properties (located in Cagayan, Isabela, and Cabanatuan and Makati cities), and 26 vehicles.

August 20, the freeze on Quiboloy’s bank accounts and properties was extended six months, until February 2025. That’s some three months before midterm elections. Enough time to influence the outcome, kahit konti? But does it mean there’s a chance that Quiboloy would be cleared of all charges by then and that he could therefore come out of hiding and openly endorse DDS candidates? Parang not likely.

And then again, who knows, ang dami pang puwedeng mangyari. There’s still the China card at play. Surely the Dutertes’ allies overseas (nandoon na kaya si Quibs?) are watching closely and liking the idea of a Sara-Digong tandem in 2028.  Ang problema na lang nila, kung paano makakaraos through the next three years without losing any more ground to the Marcos-Romualdez cabal.

As for us on the sidelines who are not enamored of either Marcos or Duterte and can only watch the two camps tear each other down, the challenge I believe is to turn 2028 into a serious three-cornered fight. But that’s for another blog.

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Will the Dutertes have their vengeance?
https://opinion.inquirer.net/176586/will-the-dutertes-have-their-vengeance

Inside ‘son of God’ cult leader Apollo Quiboloy’s sprawling underground lair with rooms for ‘most attractive sex slaves’ – as cops scour Philippines compound for preacher on FBI Most Wanted list for sex crimes https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13787593/apollo-quiboloy-bunker-compound-philippines-sex-slaves-cult.html

I miss being in a Cult. https://www.reddit.com/r/OffMyChestPH/comments/1axauod/i_miss_being_in_a_cult/

Why a Filipino Megachurch Founder Is on the Run, Claiming the U.S. Wants Him Dead https://time.com/6722170/apollo-quiboloy-fbi-us-philippines/