Filipino televangelist pleads not guilty to child abuse and human trafficking charges

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine televangelist, who calls himself the “anointed son of God” and once claimed to have stopped an earthquake, pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of abuse of minors and human trafficking in a court arraignment that's the latest mark of his reversal of fortune.

Apollo Carreon Quiboloy and four of his co-accused were brought under heavy security to the regional trial court in Pasig city in metropolitan Manila for the human trafficking charges and was later arraigned by video from police detention by another court handling a separate non-bailable case of child abuse.

Lawyer Israelito Torreon told reporters his client Quiboloy entered not guilty pleas before the two courts because he's innocent of the charges. Quiboloy, 74, also asked the court to allow him to be detained in a hospital due to unspecified illnesses but no immediate decision was made.

Quiboloy, the preacher and founder of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ group, faces similar charges in the United States, where he has been included in the FBI’s most-wanted list.

The United States was expected to request the extradition of Quiboloy and his co-accused at some point, but President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said they have to first face justice in the Philippines. Quiboloy surrendered in his vast religious complex in the south Sunday in an operation involving more than 2,000 police officers.

In his heyday, Quiboloy was one of the most influential religious leaders in the Philippines with many followers and was regarded a political kingmaker, who backed the equally controversial former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Quiboloy and his co-defendants have been accused of recruiting young followers, who were lured to submit themselves to the “divine will” and promised scholarships and foreign travels but later forced to solicit money in spurious ways including house-to-house Christmas caroling and peddling pastries and biscuits.

The victims were threatened and beaten when they failed to reach collection quotas and defy orders, according to the charge sheet.

More alarmingly, Quiboloy and his key aides were accused of deceiving Filipino and foreign girls as young as 12 to serve as privileged “pastorals,” who were ordered to give Quiboloy a massage in his bedroom before they were raped by him. Some of the alleged victims testified in a Philippine Senate hearing earlier this year on Quiboloy’s alleged crimes, including a woman from Ukraine who testified by video because of the war in her country.

Quiboloy and his co-accused and their lawyers have denied any wrongdoing. They said they were ready to answer the charges in court. The raft of allegations, they said, was fabricated by critics and former members who were removed from his religious group.

After Quiboloy surrendered and taken into police custody in his 30-hectare (75-acre) religious complex in southern Davao city over the weekend, police said at least five other religious followers may file criminal complaints and testify against him.

Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos said Quiboloy had in effect used religion as a cover for criminality. "This is one of the most extreme evils because faith is something sacred,” he told The Associated Press.

Quiboloy has made outrageous claims that sparked questions about his character but endeared him to his fanatical followers. In 2019, he claimed that he stopped a major earthquake from hitting the southern Philippines.

In the U.S., federal prosecutors announced charges against Quiboloy in 2021 for allegedly having sex with women and underage girls who faced threats of abuse and “eternal damnation” unless they catered to the self-proclaimed “son of God.” The allegations were made by former followers of Quiboloy.

The expanded indictment included charges of conspiracy, sex trafficking of children, sex trafficking by force, fraud, money laundering and visa fraud.

Quiboloy and eight other defendants were accused of recruiting women and girls, typically 12 to 25 years old, as “pastorals,” who cooked his meals, cleaned his houses, massaged him and traveled with him around the world. Minors as young as 15 were scheduled for “night duty,” when they were sexually abused by Quiboloy, according to the indictment.

Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, center, wearing a helmet and flak jacket, a Filipino preacher charged with human trafficking, leaves the Pasig Regional Trial Court in Pasig City, Philippines, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerard Carreon)

People, in green helmet, charged with human trafficking, leave the Pasig Regional Trial Court, walking after Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, a Filipino preacher, in Pasig City, Philippines, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerard Carreon)

People, in green helmet, charged with human trafficking, enter the Pasig Regional Trial Court, walking after Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, a Filipino preacher, in Pasig City, Philippines, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerard Carreon)

Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, wearing a helmet and flak jacket, a Filipino preacher charged with human trafficking, enters the Pasig Regional Trial Court in Pasig City, Philippines, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerard Carreon)

Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, wearing a helmet and flak jacket, a Filipino preacher charged with human trafficking, leaves the Pasig Regional Trial Court in Pasig City, Philippines, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerard Carreon)

Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, wearing a helmet and flak jacket, a Filipino preacher charged with human trafficking, enters the Pasig Regional Trial Court in Pasig City, Philippines, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerard Carreon)

Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, wearing a helmet and flak jacket, a Filipino preacher charged with human trafficking, arrives at the Pasig Regional Trial Court in Pasig City, Philippines, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerard Carreon)

Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, wearing a helmet and flak jacket, a Filipino preacher charged with human trafficking, enters the Pasig Regional Trial Court in Pasig City, Philippines, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerard Carreon)

New York Giants (2-12) at Atlanta (7-7)

Sunday, 1 p.m. EST, Fox

BetMGM NFL Odds: Falcons by 8 1/2.

Against the spread: Giants 4-10; Falcons 6-8.

Series record: Falcons lead 14-12.

Last meeting: Falcons beat the Giants 17-14 on Sept. 26, 2021, in East Rutherford, N.J.

Last week: Giants lost to the Ravens 35-14; Falcons beat the Raiders 15-9.

Giants offense: overall (29), rush (18), pass (30), scoring (32)

Giants defense: overall (T21), rush (31), pass (7), scoring (20)

Falcons: overall (9), rush (12), pass (6), scoring (20)

Falcons defense: overall (20), rush (13), pass (24), scoring (20)

Turnover differential: Giants minus-8; Falcons minus-7.

WR Malik Nabers had his third double-digit catch game of the season against the Ravens and joined Odell Beckham Jr., Jaylen Waddle and Brock Bowers as the only rookies in NFL history with three games of 10-or-more receptions. The No. 6 overall pick in the draft, Nabers has 90 catches for 901 yards and is two shy of breaking the Giants rookie record of 91 held by Beckham (2014) and Saquon Barkley (2018).

QB Michael Penix Jr. will make his first career start after the Falcons benched 13-year veteran Kirk Cousins. Penix, the Heisman Trophy runner-up at Washington in 2023, was the No. 8 pick in this year's draft but wasn't expected to land the starting job so soon. The timetable ramped up dramatically when Cousins threw nine interceptions and just one touchdown over the past five games. After pulling out an ugly 15-9 win at Las Vegas, where it became clear that the Falcons had lost confidence in their passing game, the decision was made to switch to Penix.

Atlanta's defensive front vs. Giants offensive line. After managing a league-low 10 sacks through their first 11 games, the Falcons have turned up the pressure with 13 sacks in three games since their bye week. Eight players have notched sacks during that span, led by OLB Kaden Elliss and DE Arnold Ebiketie with three apiece. With Drew Lock set to return as New York's quarterback after missing last week with a heel injury, the Falcons will be looking to bring the heat against a team that has allowed 45 sacks, tied for seventh most in the NFL.

Giants: QB Tommy DeVito, who started last week in place of Lock, is out of concussion protocol and should be the backup. … G Aaron Stinnie (concussion), LB Patrick Johnson (knee) and LB Bobby Okereke (back) are out. ... CB Greg Stroman (shoulder/shin) is doubtful. .. New York is hopeful CB Deonte Banks (ribs) can return after sitting out the last three games.

Falcons: K Younghoe Koo was placed on injured reserve with an undisclosed issue, knocking him out for the rest of the regular season and putting his future with the team in doubt. Koo had been one of the league's most reliable kickers, but he has missed a career-high nine field-goal attempts this season. ... The Falcons brought in Riley Patterson to take Koo's spot. WR Casey Washington (concussion) is out.

The Falcons have won three straight in the series. ... New York's most recent win over the Falcons was a 30-20 triumph in 2014. ... The Giants' most recent win in Atlanta was a 31-10 blowout in 2007. ... The teams have met once in the playoffs, with New York rolling to a 24-2 wild-card win during the 2008 season. ... The first win in Falcons' history was a 27-16 victory over the Giants at Yankee Stadium during Atlanta's inaugural season in 1966.

The Giants tied their franchise record for consecutive losses at nine last weekend. They have done it three times in their 100-year history, the most recent time in 2019. … Lock passed for 313 yards, threw two TDs and ran for one for Denver in 2020 in his only career start against the Falcons. … RB Tyrone Tracy ranks second among rookies with 695 yards rushing. He has scored a TD in his past three road games. … WR Wan’Dale Robinson has a career-high 71 receptions. .. Burns has his eighth sack of the season last week and became the sixth player since 2000 with at least 7 1/2 sacks in each of his first six seasons. He had two sacks in his most recent game against the Falcons, playing for the Panthers in 2023. … ILB Micah McFadden has a career-high 102 tackles. … Penix was among a record-tying six QBs taken in the first round of the 2024 draft. He is the fifth member of that group to earn a start, ahead of only Minnesota's J.J. McCarthy, who won't play until 2025 because of a knee injury. ... Falcons RB Bijan Robinson rushed for a career-high 125 yards on 22 carries against Las Vegas. That gave the second-year back the first 1,000-yard season of his young career, pushing him to 1,102 yards. ... Robinson has topped 100 yards in three of the past five games, and he has at least 20 carries in four of the past five games as the Falcons turned away from their passing game amid Cousins' struggles. ... Elliss has a career-high 124 tackles after making 11 stops at Las Vegas. ... OLB DeAngelo Malone has his first two sacks of the season against the Raiders. ... P Bradley Pinion had four punts downed inside the 10, including two inside the 5, in the Monday night win.

Robinson is a good bet to keep getting plenty of carries and rushing yards, especially with the Falcons breaking in a new quarterback. He's also an option in the passing game, providing a safe outlet for short-to-medium passes that would further lessen the burden on Penix.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

FILE - Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. warms up before an NFL football game between the Atlanta Falcons and the Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

Baltimore Ravens linebacker Malik Harrison (40), cornerback Desmond King II (35) and linebacker Chris Board (49) tackle New York Giants wide receiver Wan'Dale Robinson (17) during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins (18) greets Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Desmond Ridder (10) after an NFL football game, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

Baltimore Ravens linebacker Chris Board (49) and cornerback Marlon Humphrey (44) tackle New York Giants tight end Daniel Bellinger (82) during the third quarter of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

FILE - Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. warms up prior to an NFL football game against the Las Vegas Raiders, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker, File)