VERA FILES FACT CHECK: Writer Krizetta Chu’s comment on FBI’s jurisdiction over Quiboloy needs context

Manila Bulletin writer Krizette Laureta-Chu said in a Facebook post on Dec. 11 that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) could not locate Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, founder of a religious sect called Kingdom of Jesus Christ. This needs context.

The FBI cannot arrest Quiboloy without special permission from the Congress of the United States (U.S.) and approval from the Philippine government.

Quiboloy is in the FBI’s wanted list for conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, including children; sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion; conspiracy; and bulk cash smuggling.

STATEMENT

Laureta-Chu, an associate lifestyle editor at the Manila Bulletin, mocked the FBI for not being able to find and arrest Quiboloy who has shows on Sonshine Media Network International, a media outfit he founded and leads.

She said:

“Akala ko talaga magaling ang FBI. | Pero di nila kaya hanapin yung Wanted nila na si Pastor Apollo Quiboloy.”

(I really thought the FBI was good. But they cannot find their wanted person Pastor Apollo Quiboloy.)

 

Source: Krizette Laureta-Chu’s official Facebook page, Akala ko talaga magaling ang FBI… (Archived), Dec. 11, 2022

Laureta-Chu’s post garnered a total of more than 3,800 reactions, 170 comments, and 16 shares. It appeared a day after the U.S. Treasury seized Quiboloy’s assets in the U.S. through an executive order against foreigners involved in serious human rights abuse or corruption.

FACT 

The FBI cannot make arrests outside the U.S. or its territories without special permissions from the U.S. Congress and the foreign country where a criminal is located.

“On foreign soil, FBI special agents generally do not have authority to make arrests except in certain cases where, with the consent of the host country, Congress has granted the FBI extraterritorial jurisdiction,” FBI’s official page read.

Lawyer Pacifico Agabin, former dean of the University of the Philippines College of Law, said in a Dec. 12 interview on DZMM Teleradyo that the FBI cannot do anything about Quiboloy unless the U.S. government requests the pastor’s extradition from the Philippines.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla said on the same day that his department had not received any extradition request for Quiboloy. He promised that they would abide by the Philippine-U.S. extradition treaty.

BACKSTORY

The pastor was indicted on Nov. 10, 2021, by the Central District Court of California in Santa Ana, California.

He is accused of orchestrating a sex trafficking operation in which he systematically raped and physically abused personal assistants called “pastorals” – some of them minors – in a span of a decade.

The Philippines signed an extradition treaty with the U.S. on Nov. 13, 1994, which took effect on Nov. 22, 1996. The treaty allows the U.S. to request the turn-over of a Filipino citizen charged with an extraditable offense punishable by more than one year of imprisonment in both countries, and vice versa. Both countries, however, can refuse an extradition request.