MANILA, Philippines – Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Monday, September 9, that doomsday preacher Pastor Apollo Quiboloy will face sexual child abuse and trafficking charges in the Philippines first, before any talk of an extradition to the United States.

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“The extradition request is not yet there. Besides, the judicial process that Apollo Quiboloy is going to have to go through now locally still has to be done, because what has been done is we have implemented and enforced an arrest warrant that has been issued by the [local courts],” said Marcos in a chance interview with reporters on Monday.

He said extradition is not a priority for now. “For the moment, hindi extradition ang tinitignan natin, ang tinitignan natin ay ‘yung mga kaso at mga complaint na pinila dito sa Pilipinas at ‘yon muna ang kailangan niyang harapin,” added the President. (We are not looking into extradition but the cases and complaints waiting for him in the Philippines and that it was he needs to face.)

“We now leave Mr. Quiboloy to the [Philippine] judiciary system. Walang masasagasaan doon sa karapatan niya…wala naman ibabalewala sa kanyang kahilingan kung ano man iyon. But then again, there is no special treatment,” said Marcos. (His rights will not be violated. His wishes will not be disregarded.)

“We will treat him like any arrested person and respect his rights and we will go through the process. The process will be transparent, everyone who is involved will be held accountable and we will demonstrate once again that our judicial system in the Philippines is active, is vibrant,” he added.

It’s what Quiboloy wanted, too

In extradition cases, domestic proceedings take precedence, lawyers said.

But Quiboloy did in fact want that he remains in the Philippines — as a condition in his previous surrender negotiations.

Marcos said this as much, but stressed they rejected this condition. In recounting the events that led to Quiboloy’s arrest, Marcos said the preacher had made demands, including a promise that he would not be sent to the United States. Marcos said the Philippines did not give in to these requests. “At alam naman ninyo hindi naman natuloy yan dahil hindi naman maaari na ang fugitive ang nagsasabi kung ano ang mga conditions sa pag-arrest sa kanya,” he said. (And you know that didn’t happen because a fugitive cannot set the conditions of his arrest.)

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla first announced the Philippine position in a statement on Monday.

“The embattled religious leader will be tried first in the Philippines for crimes he committed here, and if convicted, must first serve his sentence before granting any request for extradition by the US,” said Remulla in a media statement.

Quiboloy was taken into custody Sunday night, September 8, ending two weeks of intense manhunt in his fortress of a compound — the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) compound beside the airport in Davao City, said to have underground bunkers and passageway to the airport.

Quiboloy faces the bailable charges of sexual abuse of minors, and child cruelty at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court. He also faces the non-bailable human trafficking charges at the Pasig Regional Trial Court.

But he was first charged for sexual trafficking at the United States, and has been on the most wanted list of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) since 2021.

The crimes are interconnected. Quiboloy is accused of luring women and girls into having sex with him, and threatened them “eternal damnation” if they refused. Then some of KOJC members were sent to the United States using fraudulently-obtained visas, and made to solicit church donations and fees under dire working conditions. The amounts collected were sent back to Quiboloy in the Philippines, the US indictment said.

The United States and Philippines have an extradition treaty, but the Americans did not request the self-styled pastor’s extradition in the years before Philippine prosecutors began charging him in early 2024.

Under the extradition treaty, if and when the US requests for an extradition, it will be received by the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). It will then be forwarded to the Department of Justice (DOJ), and a determination will happen if the crimes are extraditable. Among the elements of an extraditable crime is if the offenses committed in the US, are also considered crimes under Philippine law.

Under the treaty, if a person is being prosecuted in the Philippines, the government can decide to turn that person over to the US first, and then finish prosecution there. Similarly, the Philippines can also decide to postpone the extradition to finish prosecution here.

A California judge unsealed Quiboloy’s warrant in March, which for some cases, was followed by an extradition request. – Rappler.com

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