The United States has asked the government to extradite a Filipino church leader, who was once an influential adviser to former President Rodrigo Duterte, to face trial on charges including child sex trafficking and fraud that landed him on the FBI’s most wanted list, two Philippine officials said.
The Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila on Thursday said it has received the US government request for the extradition of Apollo Carreon Quiboloy (pic) and endorsed it to the Department of Justice.
The request needs the approval of two Philippine courts, which have been trying the detained former televangelist for human trafficking and child abuse charges, according to the two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of a lack of authority to publicly discuss the issues.
Quiboloy, 76, leads the Kingdom of Jesus Christ church, which was founded in 1985 in southern Davao city and claims to have a wide following in the Philippines and abroad, including in the United States.
In his heyday, Quiboloy was one of the most influential religious leaders in the Philippines and regarded as a political kingmaker. He served as spiritual adviser to the equally controversial Duterte, who took office in June 2016.
Duterte was arrested in Manila last year under a warrant from the International Criminal Court and has since been detained in the Netherlands, where he will face trial for alleged crimes against humanity.
In 2024, Quiboloy went into hiding after a Philippine court ordered his arrest along with several others for alleged child and sexual abuse and human trafficking, police said.
Quiboloy and four others surrendered in September 2024 after about 2,000 police raided a compound of his religious group, which included a cathedral, stadium, hangar and taxiway leading to Davao’s international airport. He has been jailed since then.
US federal prosecutors in 2021 separately announced an indictment of Quiboloy for allegedly having sex with women and underage girls who faced threats of abuse and “eternal damnation” unless they catered to the self-proclaimed “son of God.”
Quiboloy was among nine people named in a superseding indictment returned by a US federal grand jury. After that indictment he was placed on the list of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives. — AP
