US embassy confident justice will be meted out to Quiboloy
Quiboloy also claimed in a video on his Youtube page that the FBI is doing surveillance on him.
“For more than a decade, Apollo Quiboloy engaged in serious human rights abuses, including a pattern of systemic and pervasive rape of girls as young as 11 years old, and is currently on the FBI’S Most Wanted List,” Gangopadhay alleges.
“We are confident that Quiboloy will face justice for his heinous crimes. Questions about legal proceedings should be directed to the US Department of Justice ,” he added.
Quiboloy warned of arrest
Responding to Quiboloy’s video message, Senator Risa Hontiveros warned that the religious leader would be arrested if he fails to attend the next Senate inquiry into the alleged crimes committed by his religious organization.
Quiboloy skipped the last two hearings of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality on the human trafficking, sexual abuses and forced labor allegations hurled against him and his group.
Don’t play victim
Ang hinihingi lang sa inyo ay humarap sa mga legal na proseso, kasama ang proseso ng Senate investigation (Don’t play victim. You are only being asked to face the legal process, including the process of a Senate investigation),” Hontiveros said in a statement.
“Wag niyo pong dalhin sa lenggwahe ng patayan, kahit yan ang nakasanayan niyo (Don’t use the language of killing, even if that is something you are used to do),” she pointed out. “Our next hearing is on March 5 and if Mr. Quiboloy does not show up, I will cite him in contempt and have him arrested,” the senator stressed.
Against this backdrop, the Senate issued a new subpoena against Quiboloy compelling him to attend the next scheduled hearing. The document is signed by Hontiveros, chairperson of the committee on women and children’s panel, and by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri.
Earlier, Quiboloy said he would not submit to the Senate’s investigation.
According to the religious leader, he would only face the allegations against him that are filed formally before the courts.
“I will not subject myself to injustices that are done in a cloak of a Senate hearing... I will not subject to any of that, but I will face any of you... I will face you anywhere, anytime in a court of law,” Quiboloy had said. “Just do it. If you cannot do that, you are all bogus, you are all false. You don’t deserve my respect because you don’t respect my personal rights. I will not also respect your office as a senator.” (With a report from Hannah Torregoza)