Philippine authorities arrest church leader charged with sex trafficking

An influential Filipino pastor charged with sex trafficking who had been a longtime ally of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has been arrested by authorities, the government said.

Department of Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos announced the arrest of Apollo Quiboloy in a brief social media post on Sunday. He did not say where the pastor was arrested.

But the self-proclaimed “owner of the universe” and “appointed son of God” was believed to be hiding in a bunker at a sprawling compound owned by his church, the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC), in the southern city of Davao, Duterte’s stronghold.

In a press conference, Nicolas Torre, regional police director in Davao, confirmed the arrest of Quiboloy. He said he was informed that Quiboloy surrendered to authorities.

In June this year, the Philippine Department of Justice charged the pastor with sex abuse prompting a court to issue his arrest warrant. Five other members of his church were also charged with qualified human trafficking and other acts of child abuse.

Earlier on Sunday, the government deployed at least 3,000 police officers to the church compound, where authorities have been conducting an operation for the last two weeks.

Duterte and his allies had criticised attempts by large numbers of police to arrest Quiboloy as an overkill.

When he was mayor of Davao City, and later as president, Duterte frequently appeared on Quiboloy’s television station to promote his police-enforced drug crackdowns, which left thousands of mostly poor suspects dead.

The pastor said his situation in the Philippines “got complicated” after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr came to power in 2022.

He alleged that Marcos’s government had “conspired” with the agencies in the United States – FBI and CIA – to “hand me over to the Americans”.

Quiboloy had earlier demanded a guarantee from the government in exchange for his surrender that he would not be extradited.

He said if his demands were met, he “will appear and deal with all those cases, no matter where you bring them, here in the Philippines”.

In 2021, the US Department of Justice charged Quiboloy with sex trafficking of girls and women aged 12 to 25 to work as personal assistants, or “pastorals”, who were allegedly required to have sex with him.