Arrested Filipino televangelist confronts women in Senate who he accuses of sexual abuse

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Former supporters of a arrested Filipino televangelist confronted him in a Senate hearing on Wednesday and accused him of repeatedly sexually abusing her, portraying the assaults as her religious duty to the “appointed son of God.”

Apollo Carreon QuiboloyBrought to the Senate under tight police security, she denied the allegations made by several women, including some from Ukraine and the Philippines. He urged his accusers to file a criminal complaint so he could face them in court.

The 74-year-old preacher said he couldn't discuss his answer because Criminal charges against himincluding sexual abuse of women and human trafficking, have already been heard in two Philippine courts.

Yulya Voronina told the Senate hearing via video link from Ukraine that Quiboloy and his key associates allegedly forced her and other victims to accept sex with him through religious deception and coercion.

“They always used the Bible as a tool to convince us,” she said, adding that at least nine other Ukrainian women became members of Quiboloy’s group Kingdom of Jesus Christ, based in the southern Philippine city of Davao.

The women took steps to avoid sexual abuse, but Voronina said Quiboloy had access to their rooms in the sprawling religious complex and his aides also helped force them into submission.

“If you say, 'I don't want to,' Quiboloy would say, 'You're going to hell,'” Voronina said. “They will punish us and call us out, insult us in a meeting and shame us by saying we are ungrateful because the priest gave us everything.”

She finally managed to leave and returned to Ukraine.

Filipina Teresita Valdehueza testified at the Senate hearing that she became a member of the Quiboloy Church in 1980 at the age of 17 because of her deep faith. She adored him for years, but said she was eventually sexually abused by him in a Filipino hotel, as were three other Filipino women she knew who took turns sleeping with him.

Quiboloy “hurt me with his lustful act that left me in a state of shock,” Valdehueza said. After the attack, she said he told her: “This is the fulfillment of the revelation of God.”

“Quiboloy presented himself like a god, gradually taking over the minds and bodies of his victims,” said Senator Risa Hontiveros, who chaired the Senate hearing. He “carried out a malicious and systematic undermining of personal will, autonomy and dignity to make his victims participants in their own abuse – psychological, sexual, physical and economic.”

Philippine police officers investigating Quiboloy told senators that up to 200 women may have been victims of Quiboloy over many years, including 68 sexual abuse victims they identified.

Aside from the criminal charges he faces in two Philippine courts, Quiboloy may face other criminal charges, according to police officials, who alleged during the Senate hearing that Quiboloy's organization was running an armed group that may have committed crimes.

Quiboloy was once one of the most influential religious televangelists in the Philippines supported the successful candidacy in 2016 by President Rodrigo Duterte, whose deadly drug crackdown is being investigated by the International Criminal Court as a possible crime against humanity.

In response to a question, Quiboloy told the Senate that his church has about 7 million members and supporters worldwide. But police officials disputed his claim, saying he had fewer than 8,000 followers in the Philippines and abroad.

Earlier this year, Quiboloy went into hiding after a Philippine court arrested him and several others on allegations of child abuse, sexual abuse and human trafficking. The Philippine Senate separately ordered his arrest because he failed to appear at the hearings of the committee investigating the allegations.

He was charged with similar criminal charges in the United States in 2021 by federal prosecutors announced his indictmentalong with two of his top administrators. The amended indictment contained a number of charges including conspiracy, child sex trafficking, sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, marriage fraud, money laundering, cash smuggling and visa fraud.

In November 2021, a US federal warrant was issued against Quiboloy and he ended up on the The FBI's most wanted listHis face was featured on the agency's refugee posters distributed around the world.

Philippine Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo said at the Senate hearing that there had been no request from the United States to extradite Quiboloy. The preacher accused U.S. authorities of conspiring with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. against him, an accusation the Philippine leader denied.