US Formally Asks Philippines To Extradite Quiboloy; Lawyer Says KOJC Operations Continue

The United States has formally asked the Philippine government to extradite Kingdom of Jesus Christ leader Apollo Quiboloy to face trial on charges including child sex trafficking and fraud that landed him on the federal most wanted list.

The US request for extradition was sent to the Department of Justice in Manila through the Department of Foreign Affairs in July, Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Manuel Romualdez said on Thursday, Aug. 6. The DFA confirmed receiving the extradition request, and said it has been endorsed to the DOJ.

One of Quiboloy’s lawyers said on Thursday afternoon that they have yet to receive any notice that the pastor, once an influential adviser to former president Rodrigo Duterte, is being sought for extradition.

“I have yet to verify that because as of the present, my office did not receive any notification to that effect, and I reserve my comments about that report pending receipt of a formal notice from the United States of America,” Israelito Torreon told “Storycon” on One News on Thursday.

According to Torreon, KOJC continues its religious activities despite the legal cases involving its founder.

DFA spokesperson Analyn Ratonel confirmed the extradition request on Thursday night, and said it had been endorsed to the DOJ.

“Formal request was transmitted to the DOJ via the DFA care of the Philippine embassy in Washington DC,” Romualdez said in a text message to The Philippine STAR, adding that the extradition request needs the approval of two Philippine courts.

“Courts will decide,” he added.

The Associated Press also reported on Thursday that the US has made the request.

Torreon said it may have been the work of the “Marites,” a slang for rumormonger in the Philippines.

Quiboloy, founder of the KOJC, has been detained since September 2024 over qualified human trafficking and child sexual abuse charges.

The Pasig Regional Trial Court Branch 159 is handling the qualified human trafficking cases, while the Supreme Court moved the child sexual abuse cases from the RTC of Davao to Quezon City, where it was raffled to Branch 106.

Quiboloy’s pending cases could hit a snag based on Washington’s extradition request. Torreon cited Article 11 of the Philippines’ extradition treaty with the US, signed in November 1994, which gives Manila power to “postpone the extradition proceedings against a person who is being prosecuted or who is serving a sentence in that State.”

Torreon added that the principle of adherence of jurisdiction may make matters more complicated.

“If a court has already acquired jurisdiction… that court has a supremacy to, as a general rule, decide the case finally before it surrenders its jurisdiction to authorities or jurisdictions,” Quiboloy’s lawyer said.

Torreon acknowledged that the Philippines may temporarily surrender Quiboloy to the US, but this could be fought all the way to the Supreme Court, which would certainly take time.

Under the Rules on Extradition Proceedings issued by the high court last year, the DOJ, acting as the central authority, can petition for the temporary surrender of an accused “if the extraditee is also facing criminal charges or serving a sentence in the Philippines for an offense other than the one for which extradition is requested.”

In November 2021, a federal grand jury in the US District Court for the Central District of California ordered Quiboloy arrested for charges of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion and sex trafficking of children; sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion; conspiracy; and bulk cash smuggling.

Quiboloy allegedly participated in a “labor-trafficking scheme” where the KOJC would bring its members to the US through fraudulently obtained visas and force them to solicit donations to finance church leaders’ lavish lifestyles.

Female members would allegedly work for Quiboloy by preparing his meals, giving him massages and having sex with him – what the ascribed pastorals would call “night duty.”

The charges landed Quiboloy on the Federal Bureau of Investigation most wanted list.

The DOJ also denied having received any request from the US government to extradite Quiboloy.

“As of this time, the DOJ has not officially received any document indicating that the United States has formally requested the extradition of Apollo Quiboloy,” said DOJ spokesman Polo Martinez.

He added that the DFA “would be the first point of contact for such a request,” citing “the Philippine-US Extradition Treaty and applicable law.”

“Initial inquiries may therefore be directed to the DFA,” he also said.

‘Extremely unfeasible’

Another Quiboloy lawyer Ferdinand Topacio maintained his client’s extradition is “extremely unfeasible” since his case is being heard by local courts.

“The good pastor is facing cases locally… They are ongoing and Pastor Quiboloy is now under the custody of our courts. This makes extradition at this point extremely unfeasible, unless our government again chooses to meekly surrender its jurisdiction to a foreign power,” he told News5.

Topacio declared the legal team of Quiboloy would be “ready to defend the (pastor’s) rights and interests.”

‘About time’

Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Thursday welcomed the US government’s request to extradite Quiboloy.

“It’s about time for Apollo Quiboloy to be extradited to the United States of America. He trafficked women and girls from around the world. Justice demands that he answer for these crimes in the very places he committed them,” Hontiveros said.

“As chairperson of the Senate committee on women, children, family relations and gender equality, which heard the heartbreaking testimonies of the women Quiboloy preyed upon, I am relieved that not one but two jurisdictions want to hold him to account for his crimes against women and girls,” she added.

She urged the DOJ to act on the US extradition request.

Hontiveros led the 2024 Senate inquiry into victims’ allegations of sexual abuses by Quiboloy. – With Pia Lee-Brago, Ghio Ong, Marc Jayson Cayabyab