Senator Risa Hontiveros: U.S. government preparing extradition request for Quiboloy  

By Cristina DC Pastor and Lindy Rosales

Senator Risa Hontiveros has disclosed the United States is preparing to send an extradition request to the Philippine government for fugitive televangelist Apollo Quiboloy to face sex trafficking, fraud and smuggling charges.

“We are waiting for good news, hopefully, that the U.S. government will formalize an extradition request,” said the opposition senator who spoke to the Filipino community in New York on June 9 in a Manhattan restaurant. Hontiveros was in town for the Philippine Independence Day celebration. She was also slated to visit California while in the U.S.

According to the FBI, Quiboloy, the founder of a Philippines-based church, is “wanted for his alleged participation in a labor trafficking scheme that brought church members to the United States, via fraudulently obtained visas, and forced the members to solicit donations for a bogus charity, donations that actually were used to finance church operations and the lavish lifestyles of its leaders. Members who proved successful at soliciting for the church allegedly were forced to enter into sham marriages or obtain fraudulent student visas to continue soliciting in the United States.”

He was indicted by a federal grand jury in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, Santa Ana, 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. On November 10, 2021, a federal warrant was issued for his arrest, continues the FBI report.

The Philippine government could take one or two courses of action once it receives the extradition request, said Hontiveros.

“The Department of Justice said that when the extradition request comes in, we can either    suspend the cases in the Philippines to make way for the extradition process here in the U.S., or (we can) finish first, dispose of the cases in the Philippines and then make way for the extradition.”

Either way, she added, extradition means “there will be accountability” for Quiboloy’s crimes “especially against women and children.”

Extradition, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, is a government to government treaty that helps bring criminals who have fled the country to justice. The U.S. has extradition treaties with more than a hundred countries including the Philippines.

Hontiveros said there are three outstanding warrants for Quiboloy’s arrest – one from Davao City, another from Pasig, and a third one from the Senate. If it were an ordinary person, she said one warrant would have been sufficient for an arrest.  “Mabilis pa sa alas kuwatro.” She said she keeps calling Philippine National Police (PNP) General Rommel Marbil requesting an update.

“I said Sir, there are three warrants. Don’t make him make a fool of the PNP,” she said.

She believes Quiboloy is “obviously hiding in plain sight or there are “people sheltering him.”

“This is not about religious persecution,” said Hontiveros in a press conference with members of the FilAm media.  “Dahil kahit ang mga taong simbahan, kahit ang mga simbahan, (they) operate under the laws of the country.”

“Sabi ng lahat, kung nasa Pilipinas pa is Quiboloy, nandoon lang siya sa Davao. Alam naman natin bukod sa teritoriyo yan ni Quiboloy, teritoryo din yan ni…,” she stopped at this point. “Pero, ang hindi ko maintindihan kung bakit hindi pa rin maaresto ng PNP, kaya nanawagan ulit ako sa PNP.”

The curious case of Alice Guo

Hontiveros also expressed exasperation about the case of Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo whose personal background is a source of intense scrutiny in the Philippines.

Guo was recently suspended by the Ombudsman while she is under investigation for her alleged ties to illegal gambling operations in the Philippines known as POGOs. The Philippine Star said there could be  more than 300 illegal Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) establishments in the country, quoting the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz.

Guo, who is of Chinese ethnicity, denied any links to POGOs, but her true identity remains in question.

“I don’t know yet if she’s a spy,” said Hontiveros. “But she’s not exactly who she says she is. She can’t answer a straight question straight.”

© The FilAm 2024