DETAINED Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) founder Pastor Apollo Quiboloy faced for the first time the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality, which is looking into the alleged crimes committed within his organization, especially on abuses against women, including minors.
Over the past months, Quiboloy eluded the inquiry where several former members of KOJC shared their “horrible” experiences in the hands of the self-proclaimed "Appointed Son of God."
However, he can no longer avoid it following his arrest in September over qualified human trafficking and sexual and child abuse charges along with four of his co-accused.
Quiboloy was detained at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center in Camp Crame, but the court allowed his transport to the Senate in Pasay City to face the panel.
Face-to-face with his accusers, Quiboloy vehemently denied all the allegations, especially of several women who claimed to be sexually abused by him.
Quiboloy frugal responses to questions, noting that charges against him were already filed in court.
“Wala pong katotohanan iyong kanilang mga sinabi. Maaari po sila mag-file ng kaso. Haharapin ko po sa tamang forum, sa korte,” Quiboloy said.
(There is no truth in what they are saying. They could file a case. I will face this in the right forum, in court.)
“Itinatanggi ko po (ang mga akusasyon). Wala pong katotohanan. Wala pong katotohanan. Hinahamon ko po sila na mag-file ng kaso laban sa akin o kanino man na KOJC leader or member,” he added.
(I deny the accusations. There is no truth. There is no truth. I challenge them to file a case against me or any KOJC leader or member.)
'Sexual abuse'
In their respective testimonies, Ukranian national Yulya Voronina and Teresita Valdehueza, both alleged victims of Quiboloy, said sexual abuse of women in the KOJC, are “undeniable.”
The two said Quiboloy has been abusing women serving in the “Pastoral Ministry” since the organization’s establishment in the 1980s.
Voronina said Quiboloy has keys to every bedroom of the women under the Pastoral Ministry so he can sexually use them anytime he wanted to.
“Nobody can deny that there is a Pastoral Ministry, even Mister Quiboloy himself. And everybody knows that only girls and young and beautiful women are included there. We are all under the same rules. Our rooms are next to him so he has free access to every room. Nobody knows his life behind these doors. There are no full-time workers who know what is happening there,” Voronina said.
“He has keys to each room. Just in the middle of the night, he comes to my room and has sex with me. You cannot run away. You cannot say, 'I don’t want to' You cannot run away, because if you don’t obey him, you are told you will go to hell... Things like that,” she added.
Sharing her experience, Valdehuez said she was first sexually abused by Quiboloy when they went to Cebu City for church work in 1993.
“Upon arriving in Cebu City, we arranged for him to stay at the Park Place Hotel in Fuente Osmeña. That evening, he instructed me to remain in the hotel while Nilda Linda, the assigned worker, returned to the workers' house. When we were alone, I asked if I could sleep on the sofa, as it was a suite room. Instead, he insisted that I would sleep beside him, and even said, 'We are compatible because our outfits were of the same colors.' His words made me feel uneasy and quite nervous and I saw a different personality in him but I was quick to dismiss that unusual feeling,” Valdehuez said.
She said she thought it was just normal and harmless considering the experiences of her fellow KOJC members Ingrid Canada, Teresita Dandan, and Felina Salinas who used to sleep in Quiboloy's room alternately.
“What followed shattered my sense of faith and trust… He explained that God had revealed to him that I was to partake in God's life through him by surrendering my body, soul, and spirit. He also mentioned that other girls would go through him in a similar manner. His words were strange, but I was too shocked to respond,” Valdehueza added.
Voronina and Valdehueza are just two of the many women who accused Quiboloy of alleged sexual abuse.
Escape
Valdehueza said she escaped from the organization after she was repeatedly punished and was even put in isolation in a mountain over accusations that she stole money from the organization, among others.
“Ilang beses akong nanalangin na sana kuhanin nalang ako ng Panginoon. I started to question God and wondered if this is really a divine process or simply human punishment,” Valdehueza said.
She shared that she was given a quota of raising P10 million to P15 million to support the KOJC operations.
Valdehueza said she organized Christmas caroling to generate funds, adding that KOJC “recruited and trafficked young people from Mindanao and Visayas to carol in the provinces of Luzon and in cities across the National Capital Region.”
She said that after freeing herself from the KOJC in 1999, she felt shivering fear for her life over the killings of former members of the organization.
“Fear consumed me, and I remained silent…. It was only when I was out of the group that I finally clearly understood that the man I had believed to be God’s chosen and holy was an impostor, oppressor, and deceiver. He manipulated me using his authority and power as God’s anointed,” Valdehueza added.
In the earlier hearings of the committee, another witness, alias “Amanda,” also shared her “traumatic” experiences as a pastoral member of the KOJC.
She said his father had been a full-fledged member of KOJC in 2009 while she and her younger sister were baptized as members in 2012. She was then 15 years old.
Initially, she said they were made to ask for alms or sell biscuits on the streets and remit the money they got from church.
In 2013, she said they were offered by the leadership a full scholarship to Jose Maria College Inc. (JMC), which is owned by the KOJC.
Amanda said it was in September 2014 when she allegedly experienced sexual abuse from Quiboloy, which prompted her to leave the organization along with her sister.
After leaving the organization, she said she and her sister could no longer go to school or even find a job as the JMC refused to release their transcript of records.
Men in the ministry
Several men, including a former employee of KOJC’s media arm SMNI, were also not spared from Quiboloy’s abuses.
Alias “Jerome” also shared that in one instance, Quiboloy ordered them to put chili on their private parts, a pain which they endured for a month.
He said they were also ordered to hit their head on the walls as punishment for various violations, including sneaking out to watch movies in cinema houses and having a romantic relationship.
Alias David, a former cameraman of SMNI, said he never received pay for all the work he has done.
Following Quiboloy’s arrest, the Philippine National Police earlier said it gathered more testimonies from several former members of the KOJC, including children about Quiboloy’s abuses. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)