CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines – The Senate committee investigation into allegations of abuse by detained doomsday preacher Apollo Quiboloy reached a crescendo as an audio recording, harrowing in its implications, was played. It was a moment that was enough to shake anyone with a conscience to the core.
Months of testimony and investigation into allegations of coercion, mind control, and outright exploitation within Quiboloy’s Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) culminated in the exhibit on Wednesday, October 23 — a snapshot of misogyny masquerading as divinity.
The voice, which even Quiboloy himself conceded sounded like his own, bellowed with the kind of arrogance only a man intoxicated by his own self-importance could summon: “Ang makagamit sa inyo ang Anak lang. Walay lain. Mao ‘nang kabubut-on Niya.”
(Only the Son can use you. No one else. That is His will.)
The recording captured a voice, which bore an unmistakable cadence, giving a group of women a mouthful. The man, seemingly unfazed by the weight of his own contradictions, cloaked his words in the language of divine retribution to justify what was, in essence, a murder threat disguised as righteousness.
The threat was unmistakable and blood-curdling: anyone who betrayed the “Son” or deserted his ministry would face the “angel of death.”
The audience? The “pastorals,” a handpicked cohort of women in the KOJC, groomed to serve Quiboloy’s every whim under the guise of spiritual submission.
7 days a week
Former pastorals who testified before the Senate committee painted a disturbing portrait of life under Quiboloy’s control. Their testimonies, which corroborated each other, detailed how Quiboloy’s alleged manipulation went beyond spiritual indoctrination, crossing into a twisted doctrine that left them believing that physical intimacy with him was a pathway to divine favor.
Based on their accounts, Quiboloy, who fashioned himself as God’s “appointed son,” had convinced them that sleeping with him was not just an expectation but a divine privilege — a sacred offering that he framed as a high form of sacrifice to God.
Yulia Titova-Voronina, a Ukrainian who once counted herself among Quiboloy’s pastorals, provided the Senate committee with a glimpse into what’s behind the preacher’s gilded façade. She testified that Quiboloy never slept alone — an unsurprising detail, perhaps, until her jaw-dropping revelation that pastorals allegedly took turns to perform “night duty” for him every night of the week, seven days without exception.
‘Jealous and furious’
As though time itself no longer mattered, the voice on the recording issued a warning, delivered with cold certainty, to anyone who dared cross him: “It will take five years, it will take 10 years, it does not matter. Basta nakatutok sa ila ang angel of death (The angel of death will have its sights on them). When the opportunity presents itself, patay sila (they’re dead).”
The voice belonged to a man consumed by jealousy, furious that some of his pastorals were associating with other men behind his back and through the internet.
He singled out a pastoral referred to as “Pani,” threatening to kill her along with a driver.
But his rage did not stop there; he extended his malevolent intentions to Pani’s family, threatening her mother and brothers with the same dark fate.
“Hutdon na tanan. Walay ibilin ana (They will all be killed. No one will be spared),” the man in the recording threatened.
He added: “Samtang nia mo sa akong balay, ang gusto nako diri ang inyong tumanon…. Gihimo lang mo pastoral para sa Anak lang mo!”
(While you are in my house, you will do only what I want you to do…. You were made a pastoral only for the Son!)
Senator Risa Hontiveros, chairperson of the Senate committee on women, children, family relations, and gender equality, and former pastorals, said Pani, a woman adopted by Quiboloy when she was a toddler, became one of the religious leader’s favored pastorals.
Voronina described Pani as Quiboloy’s “trophy,” a young woman trapped in a life she had long wanted to escape. Despite her unhappiness, every attempt to leave the KOJC ended the same — she was always drawn back, ensnared by the very world she sought to flee.
‘Son of God’ can’t authenticate
Quiboloy confirmed to the committee that Pani is a KOJC worker, but he declined to give more details, invoking his right to remain silent.
He also offered the Senate panel no clear confirmation or denial regarding his involvement in the recording.
Hontiveros said the audio file, which has been circulating on social media for some time, was sent to the committee by Voronina.
Hontiveros said the law against human trafficking grants immunity to trafficking victims who provide recordings that expose violations of the law.
Quiboloy remained evasive, carefully sidestepping any direct acknowledgment and leaving his identity as the speaker deliberately vague. There was neither confirmation nor denial, even when the angry voice on the recording unleashed an outburst no one would expect from a preacher: “Gukuron ta mo mga animal, anak puta, Satanas! (I’m going to run after you, animal, son of a whore, Satan!)
But before the Senate committee, Quiboloy said, “Kailangan pong i-authenticate dahil, ngayon, malakas ang AI.”
(It needs to be authenticated because, right now, artificial intelligence is a powerful tool.)
He referred to the technology which has reached a level where deepfake software can now produce voice recordings so convincing that the line between real and fabricated audio can be blurred. Distinguishing authentic voices from manipulated ones has become an increasingly difficult challenge.
Frustrated by the evasive response, Hontiveros fixed her gaze on the controversial preacher from Davao and asked, “Boses ‘nyo ba ‘yon?” (Was that your voice?)
Quiboloy responded: “It appears…it appears na parang boses ko pero hindi ko po ma-authenticate kasi sa panahong ito malakas ang AI.”
(It appears to be my voice, but I cannot authenticate it because, at this time, AI is powerful.)
Military-trained ‘angels’
Quiboloy also dismissed allegations about his links to a group that had allegedly carried out targeted killings in his name. He told the committee that the term “angel of death” was nothing more than an “imbento” (fabrication) concocted by his accusers.
Yet when the questioning turned to the specifics of the alleged training of an armed group, Quiboloy’s tone shifted. Without further explanation, he invoked his right against self-incrimination.
Earlier, Eduard Masayon sat under the Senate committee’s lights, his face steady but his words carrying the weight of fear and revelation. For years, he had been a member of the KOJC militia, a force quietly trained under the 2nd Metro Davao Signal Battalion.
It was no ordinary group. Their military training had been sanctioned by the Philippine Army Affiliated Reserve Unit (PAARU), but the true power behind it, according to Masayon, was the Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI), the media arm of the Quiboloy group.
The militia, Masayon explained, was initially formed to serve as security for KOJC, an insulated network loyal to Quiboloy. But from this seemingly benign body of militiamen emerged something far more sinister: the so-called “angels of death,” a select group of men whose loyalty to the KOJC transcended the ministry’s usual demands. They were not just security; they were executioners, he said.
Masayon alleged that the angels of death were responsible for silencing those who posed a threat to Quiboloy — former KOJC workers holding dark secrets, pastorals who had abandoned their posts and who had too much knowledge of the group’s inner workings, and even those who displeased and went against their leader’s wishes.
“These killings weren’t a coincidence,” he told the Senate committee, adding that each victim was executed with precision, almost always by gunmen on motorcycles, a signature in the world of targeted assassinations.
He spoke of one particularly striking case: the murder of a tribal chieftain in Davao City who had refused to sell land to Quiboloy.
According to Masayon, it was an “open secret” within the KOJC security department that one of the angels of death had carried out the hit. He said the assassin himself was killed years later, after he left the group, repented, and began to speak out against Quiboloy.
Hontiveros pressed him on how the orders came about, and how he could be certain they were directed by Quiboloy himself. Masayon’s response was gripping in its simplicity: “Hindi naman namin gagawin ‘yon kung hindi inuutos mula sa taas.” (We wouldn’t have done it if it hadn’t been ordered from the top.)
Quiboloy has been detained for more than a month now following a two-week standoff between police and his followers, which ended with him being forced out of hiding in Davao City on September 8.
Five of his followers — Jackielyn Roy, Sylvia Cemañes, and siblings Ingrid, Cresente, and Paulene Canada — were also arrested on separate occasions in Davao.
Quiboloy faces charges of sexual abuse of a minor, child abuse, and qualified trafficking in two regional courts in Quezon City and Pasig.
He is also wanted by the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on multiple charges, including sex trafficking, fraud, and money laundering. The US has not yet requested extradition. – Rappler.com
