MANILA, Philippines – The Senate committee on women, children, family relations, and gender equality resumes its hearing on the alleged exploitation, torture, sexual, and other abuses committed against former workers of the Davao-based religious group Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) at 10 am on Tuesday, March 5.
The continuing investigation on the KOJC and the alleged abuses its former workers suffered at the hands of Pastor Apollo Quiboloy himself comes a day after Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla ordered prosecutors to file separate cases of sexual abuse of a minor and qualified human trafficking in Davao and Pasig cities, respectively, against the KOJC leader and five of his associates.
The doomsday preacher has been summoned by the Senate panel, and its chairperson, Senator Risa Hontiveros, earlier warned that Quiboloy’s failure to face the committee during the Tuesday hearing would mean an order for his arrest.
The Senate panel also sent out invitations to several Quiboloy associates in the KOJC: Jackielyn Roy, Ingrid Canada, Cresente “Enteng” Canada, Tina San Pedro, Jojo Pablo, Gihu Ayang, and Alain Balmes.
Roy and the two Canadas are among the six people, including Quiboloy, whom the Department of Justice (DOJ) ordered to be charged in Davao and Pasig courts.
Two more witnesses – a male and a female – are expected to narrate details of alleged abuse during Tuesday’s investigation in the Senate, alongside former KOJC worker Arlene Caminong-Stone, who initially gave her testimony against Quiboloy and his group during a previous hearing.
Stone, who is now based in Minnesota, United States, is among the most vocal critics of Quiboloy and the KOJC. She, alongside Faith Killion in Kentucky, and Reynita Fernandez in Singapore, were among the first former KOJC workers to go public and expose the inner workings of the KOJC in several interviews for a series of Rappler investigative reports in 2021. – Rappler.com
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