The United States has formally asked the Philippines to extradite Filipino pastor Apollo Quiboloy, who faces sex-trafficking and other criminal charges in the United States, Philippine officials said Thursday.
Quiboloy, the self-proclaimed “Appointed Son of God” and an ally of former President Rodrigo Duterte, has been detained in Manila since his arrest in 2024 on human-trafficking charges.
“The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) confirms it has received the United States Government’s request for the extradition of Apollo Quiboloy. The DFA has endorsed the request to the Department of Justice,” department spokeswoman Analyn Ratonel told Agence France-Presse (AFP) in a text message.
Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Manuel Romualdez earlier confirmed that a “formal request had been transmitted to the Dept of Justice.”
A Justice Department spokesman said the government would be required to file “the appropriate petition before the court” after receiving the request.
“Ultimately, it is the court that determines whether the legal requirements for extradition have been met,” he said.
The US Embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A US grand jury indicted Quiboloy in 2021 on charges of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, sex trafficking of children, and bulk cash smuggling.
The indictment alleged that girls and women between the ages of 12 and 25 were recruited as Quiboloy’s personal assistants to prepare his meals, clean his residence, give him massages and have sex with him.
Quiboloy pleaded not guilty shortly after his August 2024 arrest. He faces life imprisonment if convicted in the Philippine human-trafficking case, which accuses him of using women and children belonging to his religious group to sell goods and raise funds for his church.
Police said after his arrest that his alleged victims were told they were having sex with the “spirit of God.” They were also allegedly threatened with being hunted down by “angels of death” if they told anyone.
Quiboloy’s Kingdom of Jesus Christ church said at the time that its members had “freedom of choice” and that “anything that happens to you… is your own voluntary will or choice.”
The religious group claims millions of followers in the predominantly Catholic Philippines and owns a television network.
Quiboloy was allowed to run for the Senate in the Philippines’ 2025 midterm elections despite his detention. He received 5,667,438 votes but failed to win a seat.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in 2024 that the government was not yet seeking Quiboloy’s extradition because it was “focusing on the cases filed in the Philippines.”
