US requests Filipino pastor's extradition on sex charges

US requests Filipino pastor's extradition on sex charges MANILA: The United States has formally requested the extradition of a Filipino pastor wanted on sex-trafficking charges, the Philippines' ambassador to Washington said on Thursday (Aug 6). Apollo Quiboloy, a self-proclaimed "Appointed Son of God" and ally of former President Rodrigo Duterte, was arrested in the Philippines in 2024 on human-trafficking charges. He faces life in prison if found guilty in the case, which accuses him of using women and child sect members to sell goods and raise funds for his church. Quiboloy, who pleaded not guilty shortly after his August 2024 arrest, has been held in a Manila jail ever since. A US grand jury had indicted Quiboloy three years earlier for conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, sex trafficking of children and bulk cash smuggling. The 2021 US indictment alleges girls and women between the ages of 12 and 25 were recruited as personal assistants for Quiboloy to prepare his meals, clean his residence, give him massages and have sex with him. On Thursday, Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez told AFP the US had formally asked for the pastor to be handed over. "The formal request has been transmitted to the Dept of Justice," he said via text message, without providing further detail. The US Embassy and the Philippine Department of Justice did not reply immediately to requests for comment. Quiboloy was allowed to run for Senate in the country's 2025 midterm elections despite his incarceration and garnered 5,667,438 votes. Police said following his arrest that Quiboloy's alleged victims were told they were having sex with the "Spirit of God" and were threatened not to tell anyone on pain of being hunted down by "angels of death". Quiboloy's Kingdom of Jesus Christ church said at the time that members had "freedom of choice" and thus "anything that happens to you ... is your own voluntary will or choice". The powerful sect claims millions of followers in the mainly Catholic Asian nation and owns a television network. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos said in 2024 that the government was not yet looking to extradite Quiboloy because it was "focusing on the cases filed in the Philippines".