QUIBOLOY ATTENDS SENATE PROBE, DENIES ALLEGATIONS OF SEXUAL ABUSE

KiNGDOM  of Jesus Christ (KOJC) leader Apollo Quiboloy who was accused of sexually abusing his followers on Wednesday attended a Senate hearing on the alleged crimes committed within the organization, especially on abuses against women, including minors.

Quiboloy, who appeared before the panel for the first time, repeatedly denied the allegations of the former KOJC members of sexual exploitation and other abuse.

“Wala pong katotohanan ‘yung kanilang mga sinabi. Kung meron po silang charges na kriminal laban sa akin, malaya po silang mag-file ng kaso at doon ko haharapin at sasagutin sa tamang forum sa korte ng ating lupa tulad ng kinakaharap namin ngayon,” Quiboloy told the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality conducting probe on alleged abuses within the KOJC.

During the Senate inquiry, the 74 self appointed son of God was accused of grooming children into sex, forcing a teenager to stop going to school to sell food to fund his church, and obliging workers to flout government rules while working long hours to construct a building for his media firm.

Teresita Valdehueza, a former head of KOJC’s logistics department, told senators she left the church after 19 years of membership in 1999 due to the alleged abuse.

“Sleeping beside a man I believed to be chosen by God was for me then a great privilege, an opportunity for a sinner like me,” Valdehueza said.

“But what followed shattered my sense of faith and trust. Without a word, after turning off the light, he embraced me, undressed me, and violated me with his lustful act,” she narrated.

According to her, she was forced into solitude and mandated to fast for seven months as “punishment for her sins.”

Another former KOJC member, Yulya Voronina, a Ukranian, also accused Quiboloy of coercing her to have sex with him.

“If you say I do not want, he will say you did not overcome your flesh. If you will not obey, you will go to hell,” Voronina  told the Senate hearing through a video link from Ukraine.

She said the KOJC officials always used the Bible as an instrument to convince them to have sex with their leader.

Voronina managed to leave eventually and returned to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police (PNP) has discovered in its investigations that Quiboloy was trying to emulate the biblical story of King Solomon who had 700 wives and 300 concubines, a police official said on Wednesday.

Davao City Police Office Director Col. Hansel Marantan said this was based on the narrative of Quiboloy’s former inner pastorals who listened to his preaching.

“Believed to have victimized 200 women already, currently, PNP identified 68 female personalities, of different ages, who were victims of Quiboloy’s sexual exploitation,” Marantan told the panel.

The KOJC leader, he claimed, engaged in strict fellowship with the inner pastorals to brainwash them that what he was doing was legal.

Based on their investigation, Marantan said Quiboloy exploited his victims after they were groomed and ready.

He said Quiboloy also capitalized on the existence of the “Angels of Death” to sow fear among his followers.

“Victimization continued repeatedly through the years and by generation,” Marantan told the panel.

Quiboloy was arrested last month after thousands of police searched his sprawling compound in Davao City.