EGN NEWS DESK
An evangelical preacher needed by the U.S. FBI and who has shut ties to former chief Rodrigo Duterte and his household, has been arrested because the clan’s rift with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. deepens.
Apollo Quiboloy, founding father of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ church, has been arrested in Davao City after weeks of police operation, Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos stated on Sunday in a Facebook put up, with out offering different particulars. Authorities have sought to arrest Quiboloy for months.
The 74-year-old pastor who additionally operates a broadcast firm, the Sonshine Media Network Inc., has been within the FBI’s most needed record for alleged sexual abuse, human trafficking and bulk money smuggling. Quiboloy had lengthy denied the allegations, saying it was a part of the struggles of being the “appointed Son of God”—a phrase he makes use of to explain himself. He additionally faces instances in native courts.
Quiboloy’s arrest comes after two weeks of standoff and intermittent clashes between the police and the pastor’s followers as authorities searched the huge church compound within the southern metropolis of Davao. The newest growth dangers inflaming the worsening battle between the nation’s strongest households whose alliance within the 2022 election delivered landslide victories to Marcos and to Vice President Sara Duterte.
The pastor and Duterte’s adviser is predicted to reach within the capital late Sunday following his arrest, ABS-CBN News stated on X. In April, two native courts issued arrest warrants towards the preacher and several other others for alleged sexual abuse, youngster abuse and human trafficking. The month earlier than that, the Senate additionally issued a warrant for Quiboloy after he didn’t seem in a probe about alleged abuses in his church.
Vice President Duterte, daughter of the previous chief, had criticized the federal government for “grave abuse of police energy” in its operations to arrest the pastor, citing the deployment of about 2,000 personnel. Marcos had defended the police and stated the federal government will surely want lots of people to look a 30-hectare compound.
Quiboloy’s lawyer Ferdinand Topacio was cited by ABS-CBN News on X as saying that the pastor surrendered voluntarily to the Armed Forces and was not arrested by the police.
“There was little doubt that he was right here. The search took a very long time as a result of the place is actually large,” Brigadier General Nicolas Torre, Davao area’s police director, stated in an interview with DZBB radio. “I’m additionally grateful to Pastor Apollo Quiboloy for the conclusion that that is the best factor to do – which is to face the legislation.”
In looking out Quiboloy’s compound, the police reportedly stated they discovered secret tunnels and underground rooms. The self-styled preacher endorsed the election bid of Marcos and Duterte’s daughter in 2022.
