Duterte to Quiboloy: ‘Please leave me out of this’

DAVAO ORIENTAL, Philippines – Former president Rodrigo Duterte has declined to facilitate the surrender of his friend, fugitive doomsday preacher Apollo Quiboloy, saying he did not want to be part of his legal problem.

During a late night news conference on Thursday night, April 11, Duterte told reporters in Davao he won’t broker for Quiboloy’s surrender.

“No, hindi ko siya tatanggapin. Hindi naman ako authority. Pastor, ikaw naman ang wanted. Huwag mo naman akong damayin dito,” he told reporters before addressing the embattled leader of the group Kingdom of Jesus Christ.

(No, I won’t accept him. I’m not the authority here. Pastor, you’re the one wanted. Please leave me out of this.)

Duterte said this after a regional court in Pasig ordered Quiboloy and several of his associates arrested in connection with a qualified human trafficking case, a nonbailable offense.

Quiboloy also has two arrest warrants in Davao for child abuse and sexual abuse of a minor, and has been served, through his lawyer, a contempt warrant by the Senate’s sergeant-at-arms over his non-appearance in a committee’s investigation into the alleged abuses committed against former KOJC members.

Duterte also disclosed that he has been in touch with the pastor, claiming that he even called him up hours earlier.

He said Quiboloy was hiding somewhere in his sprawling property in Barangay Tamayong in Davao City.

Duterte told reporters, “Gusto n’yong malaman kung saan talaga si Pastor Quiboloy? Nasa Tamayong lang siya, ‘yun yung refuge niya. Wala naman siyang ibang bahay, yung Kingdom compound. Tumawag ako kanina (April 11). Nag-usap kami. Malaking-malaki ang Tamayong and there are so many houses there. Mahirapan talaga ang authorities in finding him there because he has so many houses there. Isa-isahin nila ang mga bahay.”

(Do you want to know where Pastor Quiboloy really is? He’s just in Tamayong, that’s his refuge. He doesn’t have any other house, just the Kingdom compound. I called earlier. We talked. Tamayong is huge and there are many houses there. The authorities will really have a hard time finding him there because he has so many houses there. They should check each house one by one.)

He said he advised Quiboloy that “if you don’t get a fair deal with this (Marcos) administration, huwag kang lumabas sa Tamayong (don’t leave Tamayong).”

Duterte said he was familiar with the Tamayong property because the fugitive pastor gave him a sleeping quarters there. 

“May tulugan ako dyan sa kingdom, sa likod ng kapilya. May kwarto ako doon,” he said.

(I have a place to sleep there in the Kingdom, behind the chapel. I have a room there.)

Authorities have been to the Tamayong property to look for Quiboloy and serve the arrest warrants from a Davao court and the Senate’s contempt warrant twice, but failed to locate the elusive preacher.

In an audio recording made public by his group on April 6, Quiboloy said he would not be caught alive.

He also said he would only surrender if the Marcos administration would guarantee in writing that the United States would not meddle in his cases in the Philippines and that he will be protected, and the Senate committee would stop its ongoing investigation into the alleged abuses in the KOJC.

Quiboloy has been wanted in the US since early 2022 for a string of criminal cases which include sexual abuse, human trafficking, fraud, and money laundering, among others. – Rappler.com