SEN. Francis Tolentino yesterday said the camp of Pastor Apollo Quiboloy can invoke as an excuse for the pastor’s refusal to appear before senators the amended rules of the Senate on the conduct of committee hearings, particularly on the attendance of invited resource persons.
Tolentino said that before he stepped down as chairperson of the Blue Ribbon Committee last December, the committee amended the rules that covers committee hearings, and required the panel to recognize and respect the rights of resource persons or witnesses who do not want to attend the hearings.
“Ang sa akin, ang sabi ko merong pamamaraang legal na puwedeng gawin si Pastor Quiboloy sa pagdulog sa Senado gaya ng nangyari sa Neri case sa Senado na walang makakapigil sa kanya, kung dadalo sa pagdinig ng Senado kailangan din igalang ng committee ang kanyang karapatan. Huwag bastusin, huwag tratuhin na nagkasala na dahil ang pagde-determine ng pagkakasala ng tao lies with the court and not with the committee (For me, what I am saying is that there are legal ways that Pastor Quiboloy can take when he is invited to attend the Senate hearings just like the Neri case. No one who can prevent him from seeking that legal action. And the Senate committee should respect his rights, he should be respected, he should not be treated as someone who is guilty because it is the courts which will determine the guilt of a person and not the committee),” Tolentino said.
He was referring to the case of former socio-economic planning Secretary Romulo Neri where the Supreme Court affirmed the latter’s invocation of his executive privilege in refusing to answer questions asked during a congressional inquiry on the multimillion-dollar National Broadband Network project.
Tolentino said that the SC decision was “clear” that the Senate has to respect the rights of resource persons.
“Hindi po ako ang abogado ni Pastor, pero kung gustong gamitin ng abogado niya, ‘yung binago na Section 16 and 18, binibigyan sila ng karapatan mag-file ng memorandum gaya ng ginawa natin sa mga nagdaang pagdinig. Babalik sa paggalang sa karapatan ng kahit na sino (I am not the legal counsel of Pastor Quiboloy but his legal counsels may want to invoke the provisions of amended Section 16 and 18 where they are given the right to file a memorandum just like what we did in past hearings. This will go back to respecting the rights of anyone),” he said.
Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros earlier said that the Committee on Women, which is hearing the alleged abuses of Quiboloy, has already issued a subpoena against the founder of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ church and has threatened to have him arrested for his refusal to attend the committee inquiries.
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla yesterday said the Department of Justice has yet to receive any extradition request from the United States on Quiboloy.
“All of this talk will really depend if there will be an extradition request from the US government. So far, there’s no extradition request. So, we are coordinating with the DFA,” Remulla told reporters Monday when sought for an update on the case.
“It’s not actually the DOJ’s fault on everything locally but extradition it is something beyond our control. And it is something that we are bound by. That’s the only problem that we have,” he added.
Extradition refers to the proceeding when a person who committed a criminal offense is surrendered by a state where he was found, to the state where he was proven to have done the crime. Extradition is governed by a formal treaty between two states.
Last week, the US Embassy in Manila said Quiboloy will eventually face the charges against him filed in the US for “systemic and pervasive rape of girls as young as 11 years old.”
Quiboloy, who was indicted by a California court in 2021 for allegedly conspiring to engage in sex trafficking, has an active arrest warrant in the US issued on November 10, 2021, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The US Department of Treasury in 2022 also blocked Quiboloy’s assets over what it described as “serious human rights abuses” committed by the televangelist.
Quiboloy’s camp earlier downplayed the allegations against him saying it was baseless and that the US government has violated his right to due process when the Treasury Department made it appear that he was already guilty.
Meanwhile, the DOJ is currently reviewing the rape and cyber libel cases filed in 2020 against Quiboloy that the Davao city prosecutors office junked.
“These matters are under review by the Office of the Secretary. The rape case and cyber libel case so those are the pending incidents before the DOJ,” Remulla said.
Likewise, Remulla said the DOJ cannot issue yet an immigration lookout bulletin order (ILBO) against Quiboloy.
He said they would wait for the Senate to submit its report on the hearing it is conducting. “Wala pa kasi wala pa sa amin ang preliminary report. There was an initial letter. But it will take more than a letter for us to issue an order or an ILBO,” he said.
Asked on the evidentiary value of the Senate hearing on the case, Remulla stressed it can be used by prosecutors later on.
“Testimonies is there for that purpose. It can be used later on, but only to the point where it may be acceptable to the courts,” he said. — With Ashzel Hachero
