Celebrity pastor claiming to be ‘son of God’ arrested over sex trafficking charges

A celebrity preacher accused of sexual abuse and sex trafficking in the Philippines and similar charges in the US has been arrested after the police gave him 24 hours to surrender, top officials announced.

The arrest of Apollo Quiboloy, founder of the Philippines-based Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) church, was confirmed by interior secretary Benhur Abalos in a brief statement on his Facebook.

“Apollo Quiboloy has been caught,” Mr Abalos said. Philippine police spokesperson Jean Fajardo confirmed to reporters on Sunday Mr Quiboloy was captured inside the compound, but did not provide further details.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who had urged Mr Quiboloy to surrender, said the evangelist preacher will not be given any special treatment. Mr Quiboloy, who was on the run for three years, has denied wrongdoing.

"There is no special treatment. We will treat him like any other arrested person and respect his rights. We will demonstrate once again that our judicial system in the Philippines is active, vibrant and working," Mr Marcos Jr told reporters shortly after Mr Quiboloy’s arrest was confirmed.

The US federal prosecutors in 2021 announced the indictment of Mr Quiboloy for allegedly having sex with women and underage girls who faced threats of abuse and “eternal damnation” unless they catered to the self-proclaimed “son of God” for nearly 15 years.

Mr Quiboloy is also wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the US on charges of sex trafficking and bulk cash smuggling.

Around 1.30pm, the National Police in the Philippines surrounded Mr Quiboloy and four of his aides in a 30-hectare (75acre) compound in the southern city of Davao on Sunday. Nearly 2,000 officers were deployed around the church compound where Mr Quiboloy and his aides were allegedly hiding. The police issued a 24-hour ultimatum to them to come out.

However, several of Mr Quiboloy’s followers allegedly threw stones at officers and blocked the nearby highway using tyres set ablaze, Davao police officials said.

After four hours of standoff, the five men walked out of the church and surrendered, reported the Philippine News Agency. Police officials have now transported them to the national police headquarters in Manila using military aircraft on Sunday night. The pastor “chose to surrender because he does not want the lawless violence to continue within the KOJC compound”, his lawyer, Israelito Torreon, said.

Philippine police chief Gen Rommel Francisco Marbil also confirmed the self-styled godman’s arrest.

Mr Quiboloy and two of his top administrators were among nine people named in a superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury and unsealed in November 2021. It contained a raft of charges, including conspiracy, sex trafficking of children, sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, marriage fraud, money laundering, cash smuggling and visa fraud.

The US embassy in Manila referred requests for comments by the Associated Press to Philippine authorities.

Mr Quiboloy and his lawyers have rejected the allegations against him, calling them fabricated claims by critics and former members who were evicted from the religious group.

In 2019, Mr Quiboloy claimed he stopped a major earthquake from hitting the southern Philippines. The KJOC church claims to have six million members in about 200 countries. Its US headquarters is in the Van Nuys area of Los Angeles.

He is also allegedly linked to the former president Rodrigo Duterte who is being investigated by the International Criminal Court in connection with the extrajudicial killings by police of thousands of mostly poor drug suspects.