After a two-week standoff with police in the Philippines, megachurch pastor Apollo Quiboloy was arrested at his 74-acre church compound in Davao City. Over the years, Quiboloy amassed a substantial following as a televangelist, leading the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. However, the pastor was wanted by authorities on accusations of child sex trafficking and other charges.
According to Quiboloy’s attorney, Israelito Torreon, the pastor surrendered to police after the weeks-long standoff because he wanted to end the suffering his followers were enduring at the church compound. “This is to inform the Filipino People that Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy decided to surrender to the PNP/AFP because he does not want the lawless violence to continue to happen in the KOJC Compound and he could not bear to witness a second longer the sufferings that his flock was experiencing for many days,” Torreon said.
Over the past several years, Quiboloy has appeared on the FBI’s Most Wanted list and was indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice on sex trafficking charges, where he was accused of trafficking young women in the United States and manipulating them into having sex with him, threatening them with “eternal damnation.” Quiboloy allegedly claimed that engaging in sexual acts with him was a “God’s will.”
Quiboloy’s attorney further slammed the police raid at the church compound. “Heart-wrenching and mind-boggling events transpired where a warrant of arrest has been turned into a license to convert his beloved KOJC Compound into a police garrison, the sacred KOJC Cathedral being desecrated, the JMC School turned into a mining pit, his followers as recipients of brutalities, one of whom even died, scores injured, many got arbitrarily arrested, vehicles unilaterally confiscated, all of which caused Pastor Apollo Quiboloy’s heart to bleed,” Torreon said. “Hence, even if he has the right to await the result of the legal remedies being resorted to by his lawyers, he decided to make the ultimate sacrifice by surrendering himself to the PNP and AFP.”
Reportedly, the standoff between Quiboloy and police grew so intense that Philippine authorities claimed it would take more than 2,000 police officers to arrest the pastor—Philippine National Police Director for Police Community Relations, Brig. Gen. Roderick Augustus Alba, explained that three different regional police forces colluded to take down Quiboloy.
“It’s because PRO-11 (Davao unit) does not have enough resources in terms of human and material resources, considering this high-profile case involving the leader of a big church group. It really needs support from other units. The area is too big compared to Camp Crame, actually approximately 32 hectares, so the more than 2,000 personnel earlier deployed is, in fact, not enough,” Alba claimed.
Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. addressed the unfolding controversy regarding Quiboloy, maintaining that he would not receive special treatment. “There is no special treatment,” Marcos said. “We will treat him like any other arrested person and respect his rights.” He continued, “Putting conditions is not an option for someone who is a fugitive,” Marcos said. “It is with some relief that I can say that this phase of the operation is over. We will now leave Quiboloy to the judicial system.”
Featured image credit: Philstar, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apollo-Quiboloy.png