Embattled televangelist Apollo Quiboloy on Wednesday, October 23 denied the allegations of human trafficking and sexual abuse being hurled against him.
Quiboloy took the opportunity to defend himself from the accusations when Sen. Risa Hontiveros, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, if there is any truth to allegations he sexually abuse women and minors who are members of his Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) and uses religion as a scheme to commit sexual abuses.
“Tinatanggi ko po. Walang katotohanan yung kanilang mga sinasabi. Kung di sa akin paningin, ay kabaligtaran (I deny it. There’s no truth to what they are saying. But in my opinion, it’s the opposite),” Quiboloy told the panel during the continuation of the hearing on the human trafficking and sexual abuses he and some leaders of the KOJC committed.
“Ngunit, hinahamon ko po sila na mag file ng kaso sapagkat ito ay mga kriminal na alegasyon at ito ay para maging fair, mag hain, sila ng kaso laban sa akin o kaninon mang gusto nilang mag file laban sa mga (But I challegne them to file a case because these allegations are criminal in nature and to make it fair, they should file a case against me or to anyone whom they wish to file from among the) Kingdom leaders or members, because we are under the law of the Republic,” the religious sect leader said.
He also denied that the KOJC ha sa policy of mandating its members, whether adults or minors, to beg or ask for alms in the streets, supposedly to sustain the operations of the KOJC.
“Wala po kaming mga polisiya na magpalimos ang mga bata…wala pong katotohanan yun…Wala pong ganung polisiya ang kingdom na magpalimos (We don’t have a policy pushing children to beg. That’s not true, the Kingdom doesn’t have such policy of begging),” he said.
Quiboloy also denied imposing a harsh punishment against members of his church. This after several former members of KOJC confirmed they were tortured or subjected to undergo a “dry fast” whenever they run into trouble with leaders of the sect.
“Sa freedom of religion po natin meron po tayong separation of church and state and tulad ng sinabi ko, yung fasting voluntary kung tatangapin mo di ipinipilit (In exercising freedom of religion, we have what we called the separation of church and state and like what I said, fasting is voluntary, if you want, it is not being imposed),” Quiboloy stressed.
But when Hontiveros asked if there is any truth that he imposed a policy forcing KOJC members to marry strangers so they can remain in other countries, Quiboloy refused to answer.
The KOJC leader invoked his right to remain silent and refrain from answering this particular question.
“Because this is already under investigation, I invoke my right to remain silent on this issue,” he said.
Dry fasting
During the hearing, one of the victims, Teresita Valdehueza, testified how she got included into the inner pastoral circles and how she was sexually abused by Quiboloy. However, at that time, she was reluctant to protest owing to her fear and confusion.
“Confusion consumed me. I felt betrayed—by my faith, by him, and even perhaps by myself. I began questioning whether what had happened was indeed God's will or simply a gross abuse of power,” Valdehueza said during her testimony.
According to Valdehueza, she was eventually sent to America when she started questioning her sexual duties with Quiboloy and has been distant with the KOJC leader and why she was always pressured to meet her P15-million quota every December on caroling season.
Valdehueza said she later on realize she was sent to the US to distance her from the other workers and members to whom she might be able to tell his “dark secret.”
Valdehueza detailed how she was subjected to undergo “prayer and fasting” under the guise of “spiritual discipline” later on after she wrote a letter enumerating the real circumstances of her life with all the ministers she came in contact with for their aggressive fund raising while in the United States.
According to Valdehueza, she witnessed the double standard life of KOJC leaders there: “What were prohibited in the Philippines, we did it there. We lived in luxury. We toured around, we dined in fine and expensive restaurants, we watched movies. Sky's the limit when they went shopping. I decided to stay in the apartment where the minister and his family lived.”
Despite the insistence of Ingrid Canada, one of the accused in the human trafficking case with Quiboloy, to stay with them, Valdehueza said she refused.
“I made a lot of excuses sapagkat hindi ko po naatim na kaming nasa Amerika ay masyadong nagpakasasa sa paggasta sa pera na masyadong pinaghirapan ng mga kapatiran at ng mga full-time workers (because I can’t accept that we in America have indulged too much in spending the money that our brothers and full-time workers have worked so hard for),” she said.
This eventually led her to earn the ire of some leaders of the KOJC, especially when they found out that she secretly sent money to her family back in the Philippines. According to Valdehueza, Canada informer her that ministers wrote letters to Quiboloy reporting that she tempted and fornicated with them during her visits to their satellite churces. Shocked with the sudden accusations, she wrote a letter enumerating the real circumstances of her life and eventually wrote a long letter of confession implicating Quiboloy in her supposed “sins.”
She said this time, Quiboloy was furious. She was then instructed to revise her letter this time, removing details that would implicate the KOJC founder “making it appear that I was a sinner who committed all kinds of sins, including those I had committed before joining the ministry.”
“I revised my letter out of fear and stated that I had sinned because I truly was filthy. In detail, I imagined sins and made it appear that I had committed them all. That was how stupid I was to obey and exaggerate my story, just to appease the anger of our leader, Apollo C. Quiboloy not knowing it would become my death sentence later,” she tearfully recalled.
“My exaggerated story was then distributed to all his leaders and ministers and they believed I was that filthy, I was pervert and I was wicked, painting me as the sole guilty party while ACQ remained innocent. Little did I know this confession would lead to my condemnation within the ministry,” she pointed out.
On Oct. 15, 1998, Valdehueza said she was sent back to the Philippines to receive a punishment thru dry fasting—a fasting plan that was beyond her imagination. Dry fasting refers to a voluntary abstinence of food and all forms of liquids for a certain period of time.
“It took me seven months to suffer hunger and isolation in the mountain of Tamayong, Calinan, Davao City” she said.
“They placed me in a small, dark, elevated room beside the kitchen, separated only by amakan walls. My bed was rough, made of uneven slabs, with exposed nails pressing into my back as I slept. I woke each morning in pain, with no bedding, and the cold October nights left me shivering. I requested a blanket and mat, but I was denied. Every day, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., I followed a strict routine, regardless of the weather, enduring hunger and isolation. No one was allowed near me, as I was labeled filthy and deserving of this punishment. Members were forbidden to speak to me. I was physically very weak and so depressed,” she recalled.
“I prayed that God would just take my life. Ilang beses po akong nanalangin na sana kunin na ako ng Panginoon, (I prayed many times to the Lord for him to take my life),” an emotional Valdehueza testified to the panel.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III slammed the severity of punishment imposed on KOJC members as punishment for supposedly violating KOJC rules and encouraged the victims to file a formal criminal complaint against these leaders of the religious group before the courts.
“Where there members who suffered from bad consequences as a result of dry fasting as a form of punishment? If there were, then we should encourage them to complain because this might be a violation of the Revised Penal Code,” Pimentel, a lawyer, said.
Trial by publicity
In an interview with reporters after the hearing, Quiboloy called the Senate inquiry as a mere trial by publicity though he was given the opportunity by the panel to answer and deny the allegations.
Quiboloy said the Senate panel failed to present witnesses from their side.
“This one is like trial by publicity. E wala kaming (We don’t have a) resource person. Walang galing sa amin. Galing lahat doon sa kabila (There were none from our side. Everything was from the other side),” he pointed out.
Quiboloy insisted that all the allegations hurled against him were not true and he will prove it before the courts where he can defend himself.
“Because this committee is not the committee to decide whether I am guilty or not. It should be the court of law,” the KOJC leader said.