Sen. Risa Hontiveros Speaks on U.S. Extradition Request for Pastor Apollo Quiboloy
RISA HONTIVEROS – The Senator calls on the Philippine authorities to grant the extradition of Pastor Apollo Quiboloy to the United States.
Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, the founder and leader of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC), is currently facing separate charges before the Pasig City Court and the Quezon City Court. He is currently detained in Pasig City jail.
The police authorities conducted an intensified search for Pastor Quiboloy last year amid several accusations against him. The said search operations even included drilling activities inside the KOJC compound in Davao City. His arrest is considered by his followers as a huge sacrifice.
Recently, it was reported that the United States has requested for the extradition of Pastor Apollo Quiboloy. It was confirmed by Philippine ambassador to U.S. Jose Manuel Romualdez.
According to Romualdez, the government of the United States has sent documents to the Philippines as they sought for the extradition of Pastor Quiboloy. To define, extradition is the act of removing a person from the requested jurisdiction to another jurisdiction for legal processes or prosecution.
Based on a report on Inquirer, the camp of Pastor Apollo Quiboloy stressed that there is no need to rush the extradition of the Pastor citing that he is now under the custody of the Philippine authorities. According to his lawyer, Atty. Israelito Torreon, they have yet to receive a document about the extradition request of U.S. over the Pastor.
Torreon clarified that they respect the prerogative of the government of the United States to seek for the extradition of the Pastor under a treaty between Washington and Manila and they even acknowledge that U.S. can request for the provisional arrest of the Pastor under Article 9 of the accord signed in 1994. However, based on the report, his camp believes that a provisional arrest is allegedly not necessary.
“However, we feel that such request for provisional arrest may not be necessary as of the moment in the light of the fact that the ‘urgency’ requirement under that is absent in this case as Pastor Quiboloy is in jail awaiting resolution of his motion for reconsideration from the denial of his petition for bail,” Quiboloy’s lawyer stated.
In July, Pastor Apollo Quiboloy’s petition for bail was denied by a Pasig Court. Recently, Sen. Risa Hontiveros called for the immediate extradition of the self-proclaimed “appointed son of god” to the United States.
According to Sen. Risa Hontiveros, it is not right that the waiting time of the alleged victims of Pastor Apollo Quiboloy will be lengthened. She stressed that the Pastor may be brought to the United States for the trial of the charges filed against him abroad but he may still be brought back to the Philippines under Article 11, Paragraph 1 of the Philippine-US Extradition Treaty for the cases against him in the country.
Previously, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte claimed that former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte hoped he did not make friends with Pastor Apollo Quiboloy. Both of them are currently detained now with the former President being detained for over five months now under the custody of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands.