Philippine pastor who styles himself as ‘son of god’ accused of rape at senate hearing

Apollo Quiboloy, who is Duterte’s spiritual adviser, heads the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KJOC) church in Davao City, where three women on Tuesday alleged they were sexually abused by the pastor over years.

The identities of the women, two Ukrainian and one Filipino, were masked behind the pseudonyms Sofia, Nina and Amanda. All told similar stories of their abuse during their testimony before opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros’ committee on women, children, family relations and gender equality.

Nina told the senate committee over a Zoom call that she, her mother and her siblings were devoted members of KOJC in Ukraine. In 2012, she flew to Davao City after receiving an invitation from Quiboloy.

Several months after arriving, Nina said she was called upon by Quiboloy to become a “pastoral”, a term used by the sect to refer to personal attendants to the pastor.

According to Nina, she did not understand what Quiboloy meant when he said a pastoral “must sacrifice everything, including your body”, taking it to mean that she would not be allowed to marry.

She testified that she was “sexually abused by Quiboloy” for eight years, from 2013 to 2021, during which she met other “Ukrainian pastorals”.

Nina said each pastoral had “night duty” and the schedule varied for each woman. Some were abused only once or twice, while others, like her, were abused “every week”.

“Every time I [went to his room], I prayed he would just be sleeping and not touching me,” she told the committee.

When she rejected his advances after he entered her room one night, he told her she was “going to hell”.

Sofia, the other witness from Ukraine, testified via Zoom that the abuse for her started in 2014 when she was 21 years old.

She said there was a dorm-like building