The Senate yesterday officially issued a subpoena against Kingdom of Jesus Christ leader Pastor Quiboloy to compel him to attend the next hearing of the Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality on the alleged abuses that he committed against members of his religious group.
“By authority of Section 17 of the Rules of Procedure Governing Inquiries in Aid of Legislation of the Senate… you are hereby commanded and required to appear before the Senate, then and there to testify under oath on what you know relative to the subject matter under the inquiry by the said Committee, on the date, time, and place hereunder indicated,” said Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri in the subpoena ad testificandum prepared last February 14 but signed only on Monday morning.
Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros, committee chairperson, said that although Quiboloy was “commanded and required” to attend the committee hearing scheduled yesterday, there is no need to issue a new subpoena since the summons is a “continuing one” which will remain in effect for the next hearings.
Hontiveros said now that a subpoena was issued, Quiboloy is expected “to respect that subpoena and finally show up to our Senate investigation.”
“Huwag niyo pong i-small-in ang Senado dahil hindi po kami titigil hanggat makamit ng mga biktima ang katarungan at kapayapaan (Do not underestimate the Senate because we will not stop until justice is served to your victims),” Hontiveros said.
She said the Office of the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms will serve the subpoena on Quiboloy at the KJOC church located along Phil-Japan Friendship Highway in Catitipan, Davao City even as a representative of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) told senators that the PNP is willing to assist in serving the same to the church leader.
Hontiveros said Quiboloy will be required to attend the next hearing which the committee has yet to schedule.
During yesterday’s hearing four new witnesses, including a Ukrainian woman, told the committee that they suffered sexual and physical abuses when they were still with the KJOC.
Alias Rene, a member of the LGBTQ+ community, said he left his family to join the KJOC in 2015 as he was enticed by a scholarship grant offered by Quiboloy’s church in Davao City.
He said tt was during his first months of stay with the KJOC when its members introduced Quiboloy as the “son of god who owns the universe” and when members were told to obey what they were told to do so they can be “saved” from their sins.
Rene said he was tasked to beg on the streets, restaurants, plazas, and malls and ordered to earn at least P3,000 a day, otherwise he will be physically harmed.
During the “ber” months (September to December), the quota was raised to P1.5 million, which is why he was supposedly on the streets from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Rene said he was later “promoted” as a youth leader who was assigned to recruit teenagers. At this point, he said he started to realize that there is something wrong with what the church officials are ordering him to do.
When the church officials noticed his behavior, Rene said he was sent to the Central headquarters in Davao City where he thought he will now be studying but instead was assigned as a landscaper at Glory Mountain, a 50-hectare pine forest located at the foothills of Mount Apo which was owned by the church leader.
He said it was in Glory Mountain when he experienced to be physically punished by Quiboloy each time the latter dislikes his landscaping activities.
Rene said it was also during his stay at Glory Mountain that he saw former President Duterte and her daughter, then Davao City mayor and now Vice President Sara Duterte, visit the place and leave with “bags of guns.”
He did not give specific dates when he saw the Dutertes at Quiboloy’s place.
“Sa Glory Mountain, ‘pag dumadating si Quiboloy sakay ng chopper, may dala po siya na malalaking bag na laman po ang iba-ibang uri ng baril at nilalatag po ito sa tent na katabi po ng mansion. Minsan pumupunta doon din si former President Rodrigo Duterte at former Davao mayor Sara Duterte. Pag umaalis na sila doon sa Glory Mountain, dala na po nila ‘yung mga bag na siya pong nilalagyan ng mga baril (Quiboloy would sometimes come to Glory Mountain via chopper. He has big bags which contain assorted firearms that he will lay out in the tent next to his mansion. There were several times that former President Rodrigo Dutrete and former Davao mayor Sara Duterte visited the place. Whenever they left Glory Mountain, they also brought with them the bags loaded with firearms),” Rene said.
Hontiveros reminded Rene that he is under oath and that he could not lie. Rene stood by what he reportedly saw.
He said he was just about 8 to 9 meters away from where the Dutertes and Quiboloy that’s why he clearly saw what happened.
In 2020, Rene said he sought permission to go home since he can no longer tolerate the abuse he was reportedly experiencing from Quiboloy but was not allowed. He was instead assigned as a personal assistant to a certain Jun Andrade, whom he described as a high church official.
“At dito po ako nakaranas ng sexual abuse. Pinipilit niya ako na blow job at i-masturbate siya at ang sabi niya at may basbas naman ito ni Quiboloy (Here is where I experienced sexual abuse. He forced me to perform oral sex and masturbate him since it was allegedly sanctioned by Quiboloy),” he said.
He said he informed higher ups of what happened only to be punished later on.
In mid-2020, he said he was assigned as a researcher for SMNI News in its office in Makati City, working from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. But from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., he said he was reportedly made to beg on the streets to raise funds for the KJOC.
Rene said he successfully bolted from the religious group in 2021.
Meanwhile, Alias David, who identified himself as a grandson of Quiboloy, said he, too, suffered abuses from Quiboloy — from being tasked to beg on the streets, to being punished with hot peppers, to not giving him salary while working as a cameraman.
He said he was punished after one of the KJOC members reported to Quiboloy that he was having a relationship with a non-church member.
In 20090, he said he asked permission to get leave the church but was instead locked up in a ‘bartolina” or a small prison cell where he and other erring KJOC members were supposedly tortured by the trusted men of their church leader.
He said that when he was assigned to the SMNI office in Makati City, he took the opportunity to escape while the office was still undergoing construction.
In a recorded testimony, alias Iona, the Ukrainian, said she was just 18 years old when she stayed at the KJOC compound in Davao City, where she was allegedly convinced by one of Quiboloy’s trusted female staff members to “offer your body” to him for her to be “a true daughter of the father.”
“And she told me like straight away ‘you need to have sex with him’, and I was like ‘what?’ I got shocked, of course,” Iona said.
But with constant “fellowship” of the female staff members, Iona said she was convinced to offer herself to Quiboloy.
Like the statement of previous female witnesses, Iona said Quiboloy slept with different women who were “scheduled” to offer their bodies to him every single day of the week.
“At one night, he can have not only one girl, he will call one, and then after that, another one,” she added.
Sen. Robin Padilla, who was the only senator present during the hearing besides Hontiveros, said he has known Quiboloy since the time of former President Arroyo, but the church leader never asked for a single centavo from him, “not even once.”
He said he also asked for help from Quiboloy when he ran for senator in 2022, and he still did not ask anything from him.
“Kung ang ating matatapang na mga witness ay nakakapagsalita tungkol kay Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, ako rin po ay malayang magsasalita na hindi po ako kailanman kahit na sino sa KJOC, hiningan ng pera, not even once (If our brave witnesses here are testifying against Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, I am also free to state that never did anyone from KJOC asked money from me, not even once),” Padilla said.
Padilla said if the witnesses were really brave, they should show their faces and not put on masks and use aliases to hide their true identities.
“Ang ibig kong sabihin kung tayo ay mag-aakusa at titindig, que natatakot tayo o hindi, kailangan harapin natin kung sino ang inaakusahan natin, na nakikita po ang mukha natin at kilala tayo dahil ‘yan po ang matatandaan ng susunod na henerasyon kung paano tayo tumindig (What I mean is, if we accuse someone, whether we are afraid or not, we need to face the ones we accuse, that our faces can be seen, we can be identified because that will show to the people how we fought our fight),” Padilla said.
Hontveros said she sees nothing wrong with the witnesses hiding their true identities for security reasons.
“Besides, they have executed sworn statements which makes their testimonies legal,” she added.
At the House, Speaker Martin Romualdez also signed the subpoena against Quiboloy, directing the pastor to appear before the Committee on Legislative Franchises’ hearing today on the resolution calling for the revocation of the congressional franchise of Swara Sug Media Corporation, which operates SMNI. — With Wendell Vigilia
