DOJ will be fair to Quiboloy even if he is close to Duterte

The Department of Justice said it would follow the law and process on the possible extradition of Kingdom of Jesus Christ founder Pastor Apollo Quiboloy despite the religious leader’s closeness to President Rodrigo Duterte.

The DOJ has yet to receive an extradition request from the United States after the Federal Bureau of Investigation released Quiboloy, who is facing charges such as sex trafficking and cash smuggling, as “most wanted.”

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Chief state counsel George Ortha II admitted that public doubts about the DOJ’s handling of the case could not be removed due to the closeness of Quiboloy and Duterte, but he assured that it would not affect them even if the president openly defended the pastor.

“‘Pag natanggap namin ‘yong request, gagawin namin ‘yong trabaho nang naaayon sa batas at sa proseso na ginagawa namin sa departamento, regardless kung sino ‘yong personalidad na involved … basta susundin lang natin kung ano iyong nasa batas at susundin iyong proseso,” said Ortha.

DOJ will be fair to Quiboloy even if he is close to Duterte

The extradition request will go through the diplomatic route with the embassy and the Department of Foreign Affairs to study the request before forwarding it to the DOJ.

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The DOJ will also conduct its review of the petition’s merits and then file it in court.

“[The Philippine government] is bound by its treaty obligations but the sui generis extradition process goes through a prescribed administrative and judicial process. Compliance with the requisites of our extradition law and our bilateral treaty must be shown before a subject is actually extradited,” said justice secretary Menardo Guevarra.

According to Guevarra, even if the Philippines has an extradition treaty with the United States, it must be ensured that the request complies with the agreement’s requirements and the Philippine extradition law before anyone can be extradited.

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The DOJ said that some extradition cases could be interfered with by the executive departments of the two governments, but these are only extreme cases, and there should be enough reason to do so.

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