(Bloomberg) — Former Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte has defended his pastor and filed lawsuits against government and police officials as growing discord with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. threatens to derail one of Asia’s rising stars.
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Apollo Quiboloy, on the FBI’s most wanted list since 2022, was arrested Sunday in Duterte’s compound in Davao City. Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos said Monday that the former leader had filed criminal damage charges against him. Vice President Sara Duterte, the daughter of the former leader who resigned from Marcos’ cabinet in July, criticized the government for “serious 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 has denied all charges. Two Philippine courts issued arrest warrants for him earlier this year, forcing him into hiding. He was finally arrested on September 8 at his 30-hectare enclave in Davao.
The arrest puts the 74-year-old pastor and Duterte’s spiritual adviser at the center of a feud between the country’s two most powerful political families, whose fractured ties are expected to unravel further as the 2025 midterm elections approach. The feud threatens stability in the fast-growing Southeast Asian nation, whose foreign policy under Marcos had pivoted sharply toward the U.S. after six years of alignment with China during the Duterte era.
Boxing match
“If this is a boxing match, they are putting the Dutertes in a corner,” said Ramon Beleno, a political science professor in Davao, referring to Quiboloy’s arrest and the crackdown on the clan. “When a boxer is put in a corner, he has no choice but to defend himself. This is a way to keep the Dutertes in check.”
On Monday, Marcos praised the arrest as “police work at its best,” justifying the deployment of some 2,000 personnel to arrest the pastor who had supported his 2022 presidential bid. Before Quiboloy went underground earlier this year, he accused Marcos of colluding with the U.S. to “eliminate” him, according to an ABS-CBN report.
Marcos said no extradition request has been filed by the US yet and that the pastor must first file charges in the Philippines.
Quiboloy’s arrest comes as lawmakers on Monday resumed an investigation into online casinos in China that flourished during Duterte’s term. During the hearing, Sen. Bong Go — the leader’s former aide — sought to distance Duterte from the issue, rejecting speculation that he tolerated illegal activities. Duterte’s former spokesman Harry Roque has also confronted lawmakers, denying any ties to online gambling.
In recent weeks, Congress has also put Sara Duterte in the spotlight for her use of government funds, as the vice president has continued to insist that her budget was used properly.
Rodrigo Duterte counts Quiboloy as a personal friend, their ties dating back decades to when he was mayor of Davao City in the late 1980s. As his Kingdom of Jesus Christ grew — with some 7 million followers worldwide, a number that could not be independently verified — politicians running for national office sought his support. In 2010, he backed the presidential campaign of Gilberto Teodoro Jr., now Marcos’ defense chief.
No other Philippine leader has come close to the friendship Duterte had with Quiboloy. Shortly before his 2016 presidential election victory, Duterte said he had received gifts from the pastor, including three properties. At the time, he denied it had anything to do with corruption.
Months ago, the former president said he had volunteered to manage the properties of Quiboloy’s church, though he made it clear he would not be involved in the financial side of the operations, according to a report by the Philippine Star. When the feud with Marcos became public last year, Duterte appeared regularly on a show on Quiboloy’s Sonshine Media Network International.
Burnt bridges
The broadcaster that aired the pastor’s sermons was suspended last year.
Putting Quiboloy on trial “will likely result in more revelations about the details of the charges against him, which would taint the Dutertes by association,” said Bob Herrera-Lim, managing director at global consulting firm Teneo. “For the Dutertes, the bridges between them and the Marcos family have been burned.”
Herrera-Lim said the Duterte clan is now positioning the 2025 midterm elections not only as a referendum on the president’s leadership, but also as “an assertion of their political strength.” If the clan falls short, Sara’s path to the 2028 presidential election will become “bumpier,” he said.
–With assistance from Cecilia Yap and Cliff Venzon.
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