THE Supreme Court (SC) has yet to act on the request of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to transfer courts hearings on the child abuse case against Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) founder Pastor Apollo Quiboloy and his co-accused from the Davao City Regional Trial Court to Metro Manila.
SC spokesperson Camille Ting said the magistrates are still waiting for the recommendation of the Office of the Court Administrator.
“The Chief Justice has not yet received the recommendation of the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) on this matter. He earlier referred the letter of DOJ Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla to the OCA for evaluation, report, and recommendation,” Ting said.
“The OCA makes a recommendation but the SC ultimately decides petitions for change in venue,” she added.
Ting issued the clarification after DOJ Assistant Secretary and spokesperson Jose Dominic Clavano said in a press briefing in Malacañang that the Davao case has been transferred to the Pasig City Regional Trial Court.
Quiboloy is facing child abuse cases before the Davao court and human trafficking cases before a Pasig court. Both courts have issued separate warrants of arrest against the KOJC leader.
In the Palace briefing earlier Thursday, Clavano announced that the High Court has approved the DOJ request to transfer the jurisdiction of the Davao cases against Quiboloy to Pasig City to allow the same prosecution team to handle both cases.
Later on, he said the Davao cases maybe moved to a Quezon City court as Pasig City courts are already congested.
“(The) SC (Supreme Court) granted (the transfer). But just got info that the case might be transferred to QC instead of Pasig,” he said, adding that “Pasig is probably already congested.”
In the same briefing, Clavano said Quiboloy is still in the country but is hiding following the issuance of the two arrest orders against him.
“We do have information that he is still within the country unless there are new developments from the police. But, as far as our information is concerned at the DOJ, he is currently still in the country,” he said, adding that the prosecution team has already asked the courts to issue a hold departure order against Quiboloy.
The religious leader is already in the lookout list of the Bureau of Immigration.
Aside from the warrants of arrest issued separately by the Davao and Pasig courts, the Senate and the House of Representatives have also issued their respective arrest orders against the self-proclaimed “son of God” for his refusal to participate in congressional hearings on alleged abuses he committed against former KOJC members and franchise violations of the Sonshine Media Network Inc. (SMNI), which the pastor owns, respectively.
Quiboloy has also been indicted by a federal grand jury of the United States District Court for the Central District of California for conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion and sex trafficking of children; sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion; conspiracy, and bulk cash smuggling.
The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in 2022 issued a “Wanted” poster for Quiboloy. — With Jocelyn Montemayor
