Filipino celebrity pastor denies sexual abuse allegations

MANILA: A Filipino pastor accused of sexually abusing his followers spoke out on Wednesday (Oct 23) for the first time since he was indicted on human trafficking and other criminal charges, denying new allegations of wrongdoing on top of existing charges.

Apollo Quiboloy, the self-proclaimed “Appointed Son of God” who founded the Church of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC), was confronted for the first time by former church members on Wednesday during a Senate hearing investigating his alleged misdeeds.

In the Public Senate investigation, he was accused of inciting children to have sex, forcing a teenager to drop out of school to sell food to fund his church, and forcing employees to ignore government regulations as they worked long hours to build a building for his media company. .

Quiboloy, 74, denied the claims, saying: “There is no truth in what they said.” He challenged prosecutors to file charges on the new allegations.

Teresita Valdehueza told senators that she left the church in 1999 after 19 years of membership because of the alleged abuse.

“To sleep next to a man who I believed was chosen by God was a great privilege for me, an opportunity for a sinner like me,” Valdehueza said.

“But what followed shattered my sense of faith and trust. Without saying a word, after turning off the light, he hugged me, undressed me and raped me with his lustful act.”

Valdehueza, who fought back tears as she recounted her ordeal, added that she was forced into solitude and ordered to fast for seven months as “punishment for her sins.”

Yulya Tartova, another former member, also accused Quiboloy of forcing her to have sex with him. “If you say I don’t want it, he will say you have not conquered your flesh. If you don’t obey, you will go to hell,” said Tartova, a Ukrainian.

Quiboloy was arrested last month after thousands of police officers searched his sprawling complex in the southern city of Davao. He has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges, including sexually assaulting a child.

Quiboloy, a longtime friend of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, is on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s “most wanted” list in the United States, where he was accused of running a sex trafficking operation that threatened young victims with “eternal damnation and physical abuse.

Former President Duterte and his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, have accused police of rights violations and abuse of power in Quiboloy’s arrest, widening the rift between the Duterte family and the government of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. – Reuters