Continue to Demand Justice for Victims of Apollo Quiboloy!

Written on January 31, 2024

GABRIELA USA recognizes Human Trafficking Prevention Month as January 2024 comes to an end, and we continue to demand Justice for the Victims of Apollo Quiboloy, justice for all victims of Human Trafficking, and to end violence against women! Join GABRIELA USA in the campaign to expose and prosecute Apollo Quiboloy to the fullest extent for his crimes against women and youth. 

In 2021, Apollo Quiboloy, religious leader of Philippine-based church Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KJC) and the de-facto beneficiary of Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI) who claims to be the appointed son of God, was charged and is wanted by the FBI for human trafficking, bulk cash smuggling, and fraud, amongst other offenses. Quiboloy’s assigned court date hearing in Los Angeles County has been pushed back multiple times, tactics to further delay justice. 

On January 23rd, 2023 the Philippine Senate initiated a probe on Quiboloy that consisted of multiple testimonies of former Quiboloy followers from around the world coming forward to expose the sexual and physical violence that Quiboloy committed against them while they were followers of KJC. Despite these offenses and testimonies, Quiboloy remains free in the Philippines, and even disregarded the subpoena to the senate probe. With Quiboloy’s status and wealth made through KJC, he is able to not only evade the charges made by the FBI, but also dismiss multiple accusations and cases made against him in the Philippines.  

SMNI, which serves as the broadcasting arm of Quiboloy, aired claims from designated KJC employees that the victims of Quiboloy who shared their testimonies during the Philippines’ Senate probe created fake stories to lie to the senate. SMNI continues to broadcast on their online accounts, despite the Philippines’ National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) issuing an indefinite suspension on SMNI operations, citing Section 4 of SMNI’s legislative franchise which restrains the network from using its stations or facilities to propagate false information, as well as the Philippines’ Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) suspending two SMNI television programs that feature former president Rodrigo Duterte and his former official and known red-tagger Lorraine Badoy. The initial decision to suspend the two programs stemmed from multiple complaints of alleged use of death threats and profane language on air.

Apollo Quiboloy will utilize all means to evade being held accountable for his crimes both in the Philippines and in the US. Justice will not be made by the judicial system alone. We must come together to take collective action and address these issues at the root. 

“In the Philippines, those like Apollo Quiboloy who traffick and exploit women and girls thrive because the feudal-patriarchal standards of Spanish colonial rule didn’t disappear after 300 years, its influence remains in the low view of women, treatment of women as second class citizens, used as property and seen as belonging to the man of the household. Despite what seems like advances of a women’s role in society (often from the point of view of living in the cities or consuming media influenced by the ruling class), peasant women in the countryside are still being used to pay for debts to landlords, and violence against women is often regarded as a private matter of the family,” said Pyxie Castillo, Chairperson of GABRIELA USA, “However, the situation is far from hopeless – women are rising, speaking out, organizing, and taking collective action to directly address the issues they’re facing, in the provinces, cities, and overseas. In the countryside, there are women who are rising, taking up arms against despotic landlords and multinational corporations plundering the earth. Women changing the status quo.”  

GABRIELA USA continues to call for justice for the victims of Apollo Quiboloy and for both the US and Philippine governments to hold him accountable for his crimes. Join us in these calls to action:

• Sign & Share our petition

• Share our statement

• Join the campaign as an individual or organization

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