(Bloomberg) — Former Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte has come to his pastor’s defense and filed cases against the government and police officials as a deepening feud with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. threatens to rattle one of Asia’s growth stars.
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Apollo Quiboloy, on the FBI’s most-wanted list since 2022, was arrested Sunday in Duterte’s turf in Davao City. Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos on Monday said the former leader had filed cases of malicious mischief against him. Vice President Sara Duterte, the ex-leader’s daughter who quit Marcos’ cabinet in July, criticized the government for “grave abuse of police power.”
Quiboloy, founder of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ church, is wanted by the FBI for alleged sexual abuse, human trafficking and smuggling. He had denied all charges. Two Philippine courts issued arrest warrants against him earlier this year, prompting him to go on hiding. He was finally arrested on Sept. 8 in his 30-hectare enclave in Davao.
The arrest puts the 74-year-old preacher and Duterte’s spiritual adviser at the center of the squabble between the country’s two most-powerful political families whose fractured ties are expected to further unravel as the 2025 mid-term election nears. The feud threatens stability in the fast-growing Southeast Asian nation whose foreign policy under Marcos had sharply pivoted to the US after six years of aligning with China during Duterte’s era.
Boxing Match
“If this is a boxing match, they are putting the Dutertes in a corner,” said Davao-based political science professor Ramon Beleno, referring to Quiboloy’s arrest and the crack down against the clan. “When a boxer is put in a corner, it will have no choice but be defensive. This is a way of containing the Dutertes.”
On Monday, Marcos hailed the arrest as “police work at its best,” justifying the deployment of about 2,000 personnel to capture the pastor who had endorsed his 2022 presidential run. Before Quiboloy went into hiding earlier this year, he accused Marcos of working with the US to “eliminate” him, according to an ABS-CBN report.
Marcos said there is yet no request from the US for extradition and the pastor will have to first face complaints in the Philippines.
Quiboloy’s arrest comes as lawmakers on Monday restarted investigation into China-centric online casinos that flourished during Duterte’s term. At the hearing, Senator Bong Go — the former leader’s aide — sought to distance Duterte from the issue, rejecting speculation that he tolerated illegal activities. Duterte’s former spokesman Harry Roque has also faced lawmakers, denying ties to online gambling.
In the past weeks, Congress also placed Sara Duterte under the spotlight about her use of public funds, with the vice president maintaining that her budget was used appropriately.
Rodrigo Duterte considers Quiboloy a personal friend, their ties going back decades when he was mayor of Davao City since the late 1980’s. As his Kingdom of Jesus Christ grew — with about seven million followers globally, though the count couldn’t be independently verified — politicians running for national office have sought his support. In 2010, he endorsed the presidential run of Gilberto Teodoro Jr., now Marcos’ defense chief.
No other Philippine leader came close to the friendship that Duterte had with Quiboloy. Shortly before his 2016 presidential victory, Duterte said he received gifts from the pastor, including three properties. At that time, he denied it had anything to do with graft.
Months ago, the former president said he volunteered to manage the properties of Quiboloy’s church, although he clarified that he won’t be involved with the financial side of the operations, according to a Philippine Star report. As the falling out with Marcos played out publicly last year, Duterte would regularly appear in a show in Quiboloy’s Sonshine Media Network International.
Burned Bridges
That broadcasting company which airs the pastor’s sermons was suspended last year.
Bringing Quiboloy to court will “likely result in more disclosures on the details of the charges against him, which would taint the Dutertes by association,” said Bob Herrera-Lim, managing director at global advisory firm Teneo. “For the Dutertes, the bridges have been burned between them and the Marcos family.”
Herrera-Lim said the Dutertes are now positioning the 2025 midterms not only as a referendum on the president’s leadership but as “a validation of their political strength.” If the clan falls short, then Sara’s path to the 2028 presidential elections becomes “more bumpy,” he said.
–With assistance from Cecilia Yap and Cliff Venzon.
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