By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
Pastor Apollo Quiboloy’s secret operations have a broken link, and the United States Department of Justice believes it is one giant step closer to pinning down President Duterte’s spiritual adviser for grave crimes here and abroad.
Maria de Leon, a 73-year-old Filipino-American who was indicted along with eight others for fraud involving Quiboloy’s church in California, is entering a plea bargain with the US District Court to spill the beans on the dark operations of their religious group. In doing so, De Leon is admitting to “preparing and filing fraudulent documents” and will potentially face five years in jail.
De Leon, who offers paralegal services through her Los Angeles-based Liberty Legal Document Services, has already admitted that she “participated for about eight years in the conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and visa fraud” with the leaders and administrators of Quiboloy’s church, according to the US justice department.
By preparing and filing fraudulent documents to gain legal permanent residency and citizenship for members successful at soliciting donations for the Davao-based church, it said that these so-called “Full Time Miracle Workers” moved around the US to raise funds for the alleged bogus charity – the Children’s Joy Foundation or CJF.
According to the US Attorney’s Office, the uglier side of things is the alleged sex trafficking scheme that implicates Quiboloy, whom his church refers to as “The Appointed Son of God.” Imagine systematically recruiting young girls as tender as 12 to make them clean one’s house, cook meals, and lie in bed with a strange man through deception and under the threat of “eternal damnation.”
It does not surprise me that Quiboloy’s legal counsel – the bright and spritely lawyer Ferdinand Topacio – denies De Leon’s connection to his client’s Kingdom or that Duterte’s bestie has even officially or personally met the Fil-Am paralegal consultant. Topacio, doing his job correctly, even expressed confidence that De Leon’s confession “cannot affect Quiboloy or any other co-accused, nor should it negatively affect the cases against them.”
What I cannot fathom is how the President continues to patronize this friend of his, who, for no small reason, is on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. Perhaps, if it were this year that he was running for president, Duterte would have easily cut ties with the infamous pastor.
This is why I dream of July when Duterte will have stepped down as president, and all of Malacanang’s protection has abandoned Quiboloy. By then, maybe this “appointed son of a —–” is no longer known as a fugitive but as a detainee extradited to the US to face his fate under the true justice of God.
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