THE Senate Committee on Women yesterday asked the Pasig and Quezon city courts to allow Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) leader pastor Apollo Quiboloy and his cohorts to be physically present at the Senate when the Committee on Women resumes its hearings on October 23.
In separate letters addressed to Pasig city Branch 159 Judge Elma Mendoza Rafallo-Lingan and Quezon city Branch 106 Judge Noel Parel, committee secretary Gemma Tanpiengco requested that Quiboloy, Jackielyn Roy, Cresente Canada aka Enteng, Paulene Canada, Ingrid Canada, and Sylvia Cemanes be allowed to attend the hearing next week.
“In view hereof, the Committee respectfully and formally request your Honor to allow the above-mentioned individuals to appear before the Committee on the date and time of the hearing previously mentioned… We appreciate and thank the Court for its graciousness and understanding,” the letters read.
Copies of the letters to the courts were shared by committee to the media.
Following an announcement that he would not participate in the Senate hearings, Quiboloy had gone into hiding which prompted the panel to cite him in contempt and issue an arrest order last March to compel him to attend the investigation.
In late August, thousands of police raided the KOJC compound in Davao City, which later forced the religious leaders and his co-accused to surrender to authorities on September 8.
Quiboloy has since been detained at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame.
The Senate panel, which is chaired by Sen. Risa Hontiveros, Quiboloy has been investigating the complaints made by former members of the KOJC against the pastor, which include sexual abuses and qualified human trafficking, among others. Quiboloy has repeatedly denied the accusations.
Quiboloy is listed in the United States’ most wanted for alleged conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion and sex trafficking of children, conspiracy, and bulk cash smuggling.
Marissa Duenas, a KOJC officer who is a co-defendant of Quiboloy in the cases filed in the US, has signed a plea agreement with US authorities, admitting that she supposedly arranged the marriages of certain KOJC members to keep them in the US and evade immigration laws.
Duenas said the scheme happened from 2015 to 2020.
She was one of the KOJC officials based in the US who was arrested during the FBI’s initial raid of their church in Van Nuys in February 2020.
Hontiveros has earlier said that more witnesses are expected to testify against Quiboloy during next week’s hearing.
