CEBU, Philippines – Former members of doomsday preacher Apollo Quiboloy’s Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) urged his followers to “wake up” and get out of the organization while there’s still time.
“You have to get out while you can. This is the perfect time because there are many entities that want to help you. Our government wants to help you,” KOJC whistleblower Arlene Stone said during a Rappler Talk episode on Monday, September 16.
She referred to the fact that Quiboloy has been put under the custody of the Philippine National Police (PNP) after a two-week standoff at the KOJC compound in Davao City. The doomsday preacher is now facing a series of sexual child abuse and trafficking charges in the country.
Stone, together with fellow former KOJC followers Reynita Fernandez and Faith Killion, exposed the inner workings of Quiboloy’s organization in accounts which supported a 74-page indictment document in the United States against the self-proclaimed “Son of God.”
In 2021, the three whistleblowers shared their story to Rappler, which led to the publication of investigative reports on the exploitation of minors and KOJC members, especially women.
“[Quiboloy] secluded you from everyone, boxed you in so that you don’t know what’s going on outside. Quiboloy is just one of [the leaders of] these vanquished cults, like Jim Jones, David Koresh, Jung Myung Seok and other delusional cult leaders,” Killion said.
Threatened for speaking up
In their efforts to reach out to followers over the years, Stone, Fernandez, and Killion shared that they received threats, intimidation attempts, and insults, even from relatives who are supporters of Quiboloy.
“For three consecutive times in just two months, they hacked my Facebook account and my husband’s accounts. It is not coincidental. It was done with intent,” Killion said in a mix of English and Filipino.
In Stone’s case, her sister, a KOJC member, wrote a social media post claiming that the whistleblower was raped by one of their siblings and insinuated that Stone had multiple relationships with men.
Fernandez shared that her brother, who is a KOJC minister, shunned her family and chose Quiboloy and his teachings over them.
“Uncertain iyong fear ko kasi what if iyong kapatid ko mismo ang magdadala ng threat sa buong family namin (I have a fear of uncertainty because what if my own sibling threatens our whole family),” Fernandez said.
Stone recalled that that there were former members who were allegedly killed by Quiboloy’s “angels of death” for speaking against the KOJC.
“Before they were killed, they were like us who spoke up. There was one who really did a Facebook livestream and after, when they got home, they were assassinated,” Stone said in Filipino.
All three of the whistleblowers were also named in more than a dozen cyber libel complaints filed by Quiboloy’s followers, which Killion said were used to intimidate them. Rappler was also named in the complaint.
In May 2022, Davao prosecutors dismissed the followers’ cyber libel complaints filed against Rappler, its journalists, a resource person, and the three whistleblowers.
“It’s hard to believe but you have to believe that now, the truth is in front of us…Get out [of the KOJC],” Fernandez said. – Rappler.com