A Filipino cleric who describes himself as the ‘Appointed Son of God’ has pleaded not guilty to several criminal charges including sexually abusing a child and sex trafficking.
Apollo Quiboloy, leader of the Philippine-based Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) with six million followers, was arrested on Sunday, September 8, at the KOJC’s 30-hectare compound in southern Davao City after a weeks-long police operation.
The 74-year-old was led handcuffed into the heavily guarded Pasig courthouse in a bulletproof helmet and flak jacket this morning.
He stands accused of heinous crimes, indicted in the United States for conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion and the sex trafficking of children, among a litany of other alleged offences.
He told his followers to ‘stay strong’ before police took him into the courtroom along with several of his alleged accomplices.
A tip-off from a ‘whistleblower’ helped police detain the preacher in his compound where he allegedly ‘kept women as sex slaves’ and ‘abused children’
The self-anointed ‘Son of God’ will remain in detention at a police headquarters for now, the police said, along with several of his acolytes.
‘He is innocent,’ his lawyer, Israelito Torreon, told reporters after his client’s first arraignment today.
Quiboloy also pleaded not guilty to the sexual abuse charges at a Quezon city court via teleconferencing.
But police said more people had come forward alleging they had been sexually abused by him almost immediately following his arrest.
‘It is our firm belief that the truth regarding the alleged criminal acts of Apollo C. Quiboloy and his co-accused will ultimately be disclosed,’ Joahna Paula Domingo, a co-counsel for one of the alleged victims, said in a statement.
‘These cases have been filed in 2019 and we have long been seeking justice for the complainant since then,’ she said.
In a statement issued by KOJC ahead of Quiboloy’s arraignment, the church said that its ‘cardinal rule’ was that members are ‘not forced to do anything against their will.’
Quibolo faces similar charges in the United States, where he has been included in the FBI’s most-wanted list.
The United States was expected to request the extradition of Quiboloy and his co-accused at some point, but President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said they have to first face justice in the Philippines.
