Kingdom of Jesus Christ Pastor Apollo Quiboloy (File photo from his Official X account)
MANILA, Philippines — Another arrest order has been issued against Apollo Quiboloy, and this time it is for qualified human trafficking.
The warrant for the founder of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KJC) has been issued by the Pasig City Regional Trial Court (RTC) on Thursday, April 11.
This is the second one against Quiboloy after the Davao City RTC issued last week an arrest warrant for him and five subordinates for child and sexual abuse charges.
Pasig RTC Branch 159 Acting Presiding Judge Rainelda Estacio-Montesa issued the arrest order after denying the motion of Quiboloy’s camp asking to defer or suspend the proceedings and hold in abeyance the issuance of the warrant.
Quiboloy’s camp sought the suspension of the criminal proceedings due to a pending motion for reconsideration before the Office of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla.
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But the prosecution argued that Rule 116 of the Rules on Criminal Procedure only allows suspension of arraignment based on the filing of a petition for review before the Department of Justice (DOJ), not a motion for reconsideration on a resolution for a petition for review.
“After consideration of the arguments brought forth by the parties, the court finds the Motion to Defer/Suspend Proceedings and Hold in Abeyance Issuance of Warrant of Arrest to be a prohibited motion and should therefore be denied,” the court order said.
The court pointed out that under the rules, only three grounds to suspend arraignment are allowed:
- The accused appears to be suffering from an unsound mental condition.
- There is a prejudicial question.
- A petition for review of the resolution of the prosecutor is pending either at the DOJ or at the Office of the President.
“Clearly, from the foregoing, there is no basis for this court to suspend the proceedings by reason of filing of a motion for reconsideration on the resolution of the petition for review as this is not one of the grounds stated under Section 11, Rule 116 of the Rules on Criminal Procedure,” the court added.
Apart from Quiboloy, the subjects of Pasig RTC Branch 159’s arrest warrant are Jackielyn W. Roy, Cresente Canada, Paulene Canada, Ingrid C. Canada, and Sylvia Cemañes.
Earlier on Thursday, Quoboloy’s lawyer, Israelito Torreo, said the sect leader was “still in the Philippine territory” as authorities tried to locate him due to a standing arrest warrant.
The self-proclaimed “Appointed Son of God” is currently considered a fugitive.
Aside from court-issued arrest warrants, Quiboloy is also the subject of an arrest order from the Senate, stemming from his repeated refusal to attend the probe into his alleged crimes.
The pastor has since been urged to yield to authorities but disregarded it. Instead, he set specific conditions for his surrender.
He said the Philippine government must guarantee no US interference in his present cases, or else he will not surface.
However, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Monday that Quiboloy’s surrender conditions were a tail-wagging-the-dog situation. But he also assured Quiboloy that the government would “exercise all the compassion” to him.