SEN. Risa Hontiveros yesterday filed cyber libel charges the Senate witness who recanted his claims against Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) pastor Apollo Quiboloy and accused her of allegedly paying and coercing him to testify before the Senate Committee on Women.
Hontiveros, chairperson of the Committee on Women, filed the charges against Michael Maurillo at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) office in Pasay City.
Maurillo, who testified before the panel on February last year as alias Rene to hide his true identity, has claimed that he escaped from Quiboloy’s church in 2021 due to alleged physical and sexual abuses.
Aside from Maurillo, Hontiveros also asked the NBI to investigate and charge the vloggers who “indiscriminately shared and circulated” Maurillo’s video across multiple social media platforms.
Maurillo’s video was uploaded at the YouTube and Facebook accounts of one Pagtanggol Valiente. It was shared in their respective accounts by vloggers Trixie Cruz-Angeles, Ahmed Paglinawan, Krizette “Kiffy” Chu, Rob Rances, Sass Rogando Sasot, Aerin Pena alias “Old School Pinoy,” Jay Sonza, Banat By 2.0, Tio Moreno, Wredel Esguerra, Joie Cruz, Ka Eric Celiz, and lawyer Ranny Randolf Libayan.
“These social media personalities, without verifying the truth of Mr. Maurillo’s statements, republished and amplified the libelous video. In doing so, they directly and deliberately contributed to the spread of false and malicious claims against me, further endangering the safety of my staff and the witnesses identified in the video,” Hontiveros said in her complaint.
She again denied Maurillo’s claim that she supposedly paid him P1 million to appear before the Senate committee and falsely accuse Quiboloy, former president Rodrigo Duterte, and Vice President Sara Duterte.
She said it was Maurillo who volunteered to testify against Quiboloy, narrating that he sent her office emails to “express his strong desire to attain justice and testify” in the Senate which was investigating the alleged trafficking, rape, and child abuse happening within the KOJC.
“On February 5, 2024, Mr. Maurillo, of his own volition and without any prompting from our office, voluntarily sent a document to my staff outlining his proposed testimony for the Senate hearing. This document reflected the account he had consistently shared with my staff in the days leading up to the hearing,” she said.
Maurillo, who said that he was a landscaper at Quiboloy’s Glory Mountain, said during the Senate hearing that he saw the former president and the Vice President, when she was still Davao city mayor, when they visited Quiboloy at Glory Mountain and went home bringing bags of firearms apparently given by the KOJC leader.
He also testified that Quiboloy hit him each time he failed to deliver the quality of work expected by the pastor on his property, and that he was supposedly forced to perform sexual acts on a male KOJC official.
In a sudden turn of events, Maurillo, in the video that has gone viral, claimed that what he said during the hearings were prepared and fed to him by Hontiveros.
“I was paid by Sen. Risa Hontiveros to testify against PRRD [President Rodrigo Roa Duterte], VP Sara, and pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy. Everything that I and the other witnesses said during the Senate hearings were all made up by Sen. Risa to bring down the pastor and the whole Kingdom so they can take away his properties,” Maurillo said in Filipino.
Hontiveros said that aside from the libelous video, Maurillo also indiscriminately named members of her staff and other witnesses which was in violation of their right to privacy, “recklessly endangering their safety.”
Hontiveros also asked the NBI to help identify the people behind the production of the video since she still has no idea who made it.
Based on information gathered by her office, the Facebook account Pagtanggol Valiente was only created on June 24. Maurillo’s video went viral a day after the Facebook account was created.
“The respondents in this case are the individual/s behind the creation and management of the YouTube and Facebook account under the name Pagtanggol Valiente, along with the author and speaker in the libelous video subject of this complaint,” she said.
“In view of all the foregoing, I am executing this complaint -affidavit to attest to the truth of the foregoing facts and to initiate the investigation and prosecution of Pagtanggol Valiente, as well as Mr. Michael Maurillo, who authored the defamatory video and the social media personalities who maliciously shared or amplified the contents,” she added.
