Senate panel summons Quiboloy after probe snub

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality on Tuesday served a subpoena on self-proclaimed “Appointed Son of God” and Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) preacher Apollo Quiboloy after not showing up during the panel’s investigation on alleged sexual abuses.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros, the chairperson of the Senate panel, said that they have sent two invitations to the Davao-based doomsday preacher for probes into the alleged abuses committed by him and KOJC, but the invites were snubbed. 

“Kayo pastor ang dapat humarap sa susunod na pagdinig because you are being subpoenaed by this committee,” Hontiveros said in her closing remarks.

(You, pastor, are the one who should appear at the next hearing because you are being subpoenaed by this committee.)

“Hindi po kayo anak ng Diyos na exempt sa otoridad ng estado,” she added.

(You are not a son of God who is exempt from the authority of the state.)

The issuance of the subpoena comes after the Senate panel’s investigation, which heard the testimonies of former alleged victims — two Ukrainians and a Filipina — on the alleged abuses of Quiboloy.

The victims claimed that they were sexually abused by the preacher, saying that they are sacrificing their body to God.

In December 2023, Hontiveros urged the Department of Justice to issue an immigration lookout bulletin on Quiboloy to prevent him from escaping the country.

Aside from the alleged sexual abuses, Hontiveros cited allegations of coercion on KOJC members to perform exploitative acts such as begging on the streets for money and physical abuse to which Quiboloy’s camp denied.

In February 2022, the United States (US) Federal Bureau of Investigation placed the doomsday preacher in the most wanted list for “his alleged participation in a labor trafficking scheme.”

A year earlier, US prosecutors indicted Quiboloy and other officials of his organization for sex-trafficking charges which the fiscals said threatened victims as young as 12-year-old of physical abuse and KOJC’s so-called “eternal damnation.”

The 2021 indictment also mentioned Quiboloy and the KOJC obtaining fraudulent visas for his organization’s members to enter the United States.

Aside from the Senate summons and looming international prosecution, Quiboloy’s television network, Sonshine Media International, has been issued a cease-and-desist order by the National Telecommunications Commission after it failed to comply with the earlier 30-day suspension order.