No extradition request yet for Quiboloy: DOJ

MANILA – The Department of Justice (DOJ) has not received any communication from its United States counterpart on the alleged sex trafficking charges against Apollo Quiboloy, a pastor and founder of the church group Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC).

“(A)s of this date, the DOJ has not received any request for extradition from the US DOJ nor the US State Department through the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs),” Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra told reporters via text message on Friday.

Guevarra said no sex trafficking charges have been filed or are pending in the Philippines against the 71-year-old Quiboloy involving the factual circumstances as those in the US indictment.

A complaint for rape was filed against him last year in Davao City. It was dismissed but is under appeal.

A federal grand jury in the US indicted Quiboloy over an alleged scheme that coerced girls and young women to have sex with him under threats of “eternal damnation”.

The US DOJ said the indictment charged Quiboloy and two other top church officials, Teresita Dandan, 59, and Felina Salinas, 56, with conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion, as well as the sex trafficking of children.

“The three defendants allegedly recruited females ranging from approximately 12 to 25 years of age to work as personal assistants, or pastorals, for Quiboloy,” the indictment unsealed Thursday read, as published in various news websites.

The victims allegedly prepared Quiboloy’s meals, cleaned his residences, gave him massages, and were required to have sex with him in what the pastorals called night duty.

“Defendant Quiboloy and other KOJC administrators told pastorals that performing night duty was God’s will and a privilege, as well as a necessary demonstration of the pastoral’s commitment to give her body to defendant Quiboloy as The Appointed Son of God,” the indictment alleged.

Those who refused were told “that they had the devil in them and risked eternal damnation” and those who tried to leave the church or were not able to perform night duty were threatened and physically abused by Quiboloy.

According to the US DOJ, three of the five female victims were minors when the alleged abuses began.

The new indictment expands the scope of the allegation made in February last year against three Los Angeles-based administrators of the church by adding six new defendants, including Quiboloy.

The US DOJ said the nine defendants are charged with participating in a labor trafficking scheme that brought church members to the US, “via fraudulently obtained” visas, and forced the members to solicit donations for a bogus charity “that actually were used to finance church operations and the lavish lifestyles of its leaders.”

Three of the new defendants were arrested Thursday (US time) and will make their initial appearance at the US District Court in Los Angeles and Honolulu.

An ongoing investigation into KOJC, meanwhile, is being led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations, US State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service, and other agencies.

The Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles is closely monitoring the case.

“The Consulate General fully respects the laws of the state of California and the United States of America and will seek avenues to extend consular assistance to both the accused and the victims as appropriate,” it said in a statement.