Philippine Daily Inquirer

QUIBOLOY HOME AFTER BRIEF ‘QUESTIONIN­G’ IN HAWAII

- — ALLAN NAWAL, JULIE M. AURELIO AND LEILA B. SALAVERRIA INQ

Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, the head of Kingdom of Jesus Christ whose blessing and friendship are sought after by prominent politician­s, has come back home nonplussed by his brief questionin­g in Hawaii.

Quiboloy’s lawyer and spokespers­on said the pastor was neither detained for violating any law nor deported from the 50th US state.

The pastor arrived at Ninoy Aquino Internatio­nal Airport around 6:44 p.m. on Thursday aboard Philippine Airlines Flight PR-113, according to the Bureau of Immigratio­n.

“There is no way he would be allowed to leave if he had been charged and detained,” said lawyer Israelito Torreon.

Cash was hers

Quiboloy, a friend of President Duterte, made headlines after Hawaii News Now broke the news that United States au- thorities had found $350,000 in cash and gun parts in the pastor’s private plane at the Honolulu airport.

A companion of the pastor, Felina Salinas, was arrested and charged with attempted bulk cash smuggling after she admitted that the cash was hers.

Malacañang is taking a hands-off approach to the incident.

“The pastor is a private individual … He can defend himself,” presidenti­al spokespers­on Harry Roque told reporters.

‘Not detained’

Torreon said it would be unfair to insinuate that Quiboloy had committed any crime.

“Detention implies he had committed a crime and he violated a US law. Wehave to clarify that he was not detained and he did not violate any US law,” he added.

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