Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Wednesday said that Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) founder Apollo Quiboloy should face the charges filed against him in the Philippines first.
“Meron na dapat mangyari at meron kalabasan naman itong pinaghirapan ng ating daan-daan at libo-libong pulis na nilagay upang arestuhin siya. It’s just right that we try him here in the Philippines first,” he said in a press briefing.
(Something should happen and there should be a result in the effort of our hundreds of police officers who were deployed to arrest him. It’s only fitting that we try him here in the Philippines first.)
Quiboloy is facing qualified trafficking and child abuse cases in the country, while charges of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, and sex trafficking of children; conspiracy; and bulk cash smuggling have been filed against him in the US.
According to Remulla, the terms of an extradition treaty are clear that the Philippine government “has the discretion to do what [it] thinks is right.”
Remulla previously said that he is expecting an extradition request from the United States soon.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., for his part, has said there is no request yet from the US government regarding the extradition of Quiboloy.
Quiboloy surrendered to authorities on Sunday evening after he was given an ultimatum to turn himself in within 24 hours.
Custody
The Quezon City Court handling Quiboloy’s abuse case ordered his transfer from the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame to the Quezon City Jail.
The PNP, however, later said that Quiboloy will remain at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame by virtue of an order received by the Pasig court, which is handling his qualified trafficking case.
According to Justice Undersecretary Raul Vasquez, the courts themselves should resolve the issue,
“Yung conflict na ito, dapat ipa-clarify sa korte kasi pareho na RTC. At ang pwede lang mag resolve niyan would be by the courts themselves and later on by the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA), most likely, or the Supreme Court (SC) itself,” Vasquez said.
(This conflict should be clarified because both of them are RTCs. And the only ones who could resolve this are the courts themselves and later on by the OCA, most likely, or the SC itself.)
Meanwhile, the scheduling conflict in the arraignments if Quiboloy has already been resolved, according to the Philippine National Police (PNP).
House arrest
Quiboloy’s camp also said that they will file a petition seeking to put him under the custody of the Armed Forces of the Philippines or under house arrest.
When sought for comment, Remulla said that this is still up to the court’s discretion.
However, he said that house arrest was usually given to those accused who did not resist authorities or those with medical conditions.
“But as far as I remember, ‘yung mga binibigyan ng house arrest ‘yung mga hindi nag resist o kaya pumayag kaagad na maaresto. ‘Yung mga nanago at nagpahirap sa gobyerno, madalang tayo mag bigay ng house arrest sa mga taong ganito,” he said.
(But as far as I remember, those who were given house arrest were the ones who didn’t resist or immediately surrendered. On the other hand, those who fled and gave the government a hard time, it’s rare for us to grant house arrest to people like that.)
Meanwhile, Fadullon said the complaints filed by former President Rodrigo Duterte against Interior and Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos and others will be transferred to the main office in Manila.
He said the complaint was filed before the Prosecutor’s Office in Davao.
“I think there has already been an order to transfer these cases here in the main office for us to have a prosecutor investigate all of them.,” Fadullon said. –VAL, GMA Integrated News
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