Hawaii trafficking charges part of case against arrested Philippine mega-church pastor

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Philippine televangelist Apollo Quiboloy, accused of human trafficking and sex assault — including in Hawaii, was arrested this weekend in the Philippines after a two week stand-off between law enforcement and his followers.

The FBI may have considered apprehending Quiboloy in Hawaii years ago, but his arrest in Davao ended up being one of the most dramatic law enforcement dramas in the Philippines.

Thousands of Philippine police and military were met with a human blockade of Quiboloy supporters when they came to arrest him two weeks ago at the huge Kingdom of Jesus Christ compound.

Quiboloy and several aids finally surrendered early Sunday.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. gave credit to both Quiloboy and law enforcement.

“To his credit, he was still displaying a modicum of leadership to his followers,” Marcos said. “I will stress it was a very — how we say — involved police action.”

Quiboloy was a close friend of prior President Rodrigo Dutarte, and Quiboloy was critical of Marcos.

Hawaii Attorney Mike Green is on the church’s American legal team.

“He’s been he’s been mentoring and and being a pastor for over 3 million people, almost 200 cities, countries around the world. I’ve seen the work he’s done. I’ve seen the Children’s Joy Foundation. This is a horrible payback for what I believe is a political Vendetta,” Green said.

The church brought young girls as religious workers to Hawaii and Los Angeles to raise funds by selling donuts and other baked goods.

In Hawaii one young lady fled a church compound in 2015 and claimed she was trafficked, beaten and forced to have sex with Quiboloy along with other women and girls. She said church leaders retaliated by accusing her of sex assault of a minor. Honolulu prosecutors pursued the case for four years before finally dropping it in 2019.

Attorney Victor Bakke represented her for the first several years of the case.

“Everything that she said just sounded like a cult that she escaped,” Bakke said. “They’d shaved her head, they put her in a concentration — or they called it a re-education camp.”

In 2018, after the FBI had been investigating the trafficking claims, Quiboloy and his private jet were seized at the airport. On board was the head of his Hawaii operations Felina Salinas, who was charged with trying to smuggle $300,000 in cash to the Philippines for Quiboloy.

After investigation, the charge was reduced. Salinas served 30 days in jail and Quiboloy went home on a commercial flight, leaving the private plane behind.

Bakke said he believes Salinas took the fall for Quiboloy to enable his escape.

“I talked to the agents on my case, and they were extremely upset when they found out that Quiboloy’s plane had been detained here, and that he wasn’t taken into custody.”

After raids of church properties in 2020, in 2021 the FBI indicted Quiboloy and church leaders and members including Salinas, who the FBI said played a key role in trafficking, controlling and organizing sex partners for the pastor.

The case has been waiting for Quiboloy’s arrest, but its not clear if the Philippines or the U.S. FBI will prosecute first.

Salinas and other indicted church members are out on bail.

Quiboloy has repeatedly and vigorously denied the charges, including getting a prosecutor in the Philippines to charge Hawaii News Now employees with criminal libel for the stories.

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