Cendaña reiterates: Nothing libelous with what I said about Quiboloy

MANILA, Philippines — Akbayan party-list Rep. Percival Cendaña has maintained that there is nothing libelous in the statements he made about Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) founder Apollo Quiboloy.

Cendaña made the statement as the lawmaker filed his counter-affidavit to the cases against him.

In an ambush interview on Friday, the lawmaker said that part of the counter-affidavit that he filed before the Pasig City Regional Trial Court contained transcripts of witnesses who testified against Quiboloy.

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The documents also included media reports.

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He reiterated that he merely echoed the contents of these papers in his statements.

“We argued in our counter-affidavit that there is nothing libelous in what we did because the cases against Quiboloy have been under investigation for a long time already, to the point that it has reached a Senate probe,” Cendaña told reporters.  

“That’s why we said that the statements I made were not different from what was discussed during the Senate committee hearings,” he said.

“So what we submitted are pieces of evidence like videos and transcripts of the Senate committee hearing […] as what we mentioned were in relation to media reports about the cases filed against him in the United States,” he enumerated.

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“These materials include the remarks from his victims, alleged victims, during the Senate committee hearings,” he added.

Last September, Quiboloy’s legal counsel Ferdinand Topacio announced that they will be filing libel and cyber libel raps against the three lawmakers before the Pasig City Prosecutor’s Office.

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The three lawmakers are Cendaña, Senator Risa Hontiveros, and Mamamayang Liberal party-list Rep. Leila de Lima. 

On September 9, Cendaña said that he would rather be labeled libelous than be described as a sex trafficker.

This is a swipe at Quiboloy who is facing sex trafficking and abuse-related charges both in the Philippines and the United States (US).

READ: Cendaña to Quiboloy camp: Better libelous than sex trafficker

Early August, the US State Department, through the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, sent a letter seeking Quiboloy’s extradition.

This was done so that he could face charges stemming from a 2021 indictment in California, due to sex trafficking of minors, visa fraud and bulk cash smuggling.

Cendaña said Quiboloy’s libel raps are no longer a surprise.

“I wasn’t shocked that we were slapped with such cases from Pastor Apollo Quiboloy because we know that this usually happens to people who stand up for the truth and justice,” he said.

“What we said, very clearly, is that there was no mention of our parliamentary immunity. Until the end, we are sticking to the facts,” he added.

Quiboloy is currently detained at the Pasig City Jail, as he faces qualified human trafficking case before the Pasig City Regional Trial Court (RTC); and sexual abuse and maltreatment before the Quezon City RTC.

Some of the information about Quiboloy’s cases were discussed during the probe conducted by the Senate committee on women, children, family relations and gender equality, which is headed by Hontiveros.

READ: Hontiveros ‘no reason to be scared’ amid libel charge from Quiboloy

On the extradition, Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida said early this October that a petition to extradite Quiboloy to the US will soon be filed before a local court, as a review of the request is almost done.

READ: DOJ: Quiboloy extradition petition almost ready

Vida added that the DOJ is ensuring that its looming petition is compliant with the country’s 1994 extradition treaty with the United States.

The department also wants to be certain that the petition follows the new rules issued by the Supreme Court last year that sought to streamline extradition proceedings when these cases reach the courts. /apl

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—With reports from Katherine Cielo Guimera, INQUIRER.net trainee