MANILA, Philippines — Former Philippine National Police chief Nicolas Torre III took to social media on Thursday, April 30, to echo former senator Antonio Trillanes IV’s claim that Apollo Quiboloy was propped up as former president Rodrigo Duterte’s alleged “natural money laundering machine.”
Torre, now general manager of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, cited Trillanes’ television interview where the former senator claimed that private jets and helicopters bought by Quiboloy actually belonged to Duterte.
“So, what we uncovered, the private jets or helicopters bought by Quiboloy, those were his, Duterte’s. Because if you look at it, he used them more often than the true owner. More than Quiboloy,” Trillanes said.
Trillanes also claimed that Quiboloy was used to make the alleged transactions harder to question because of his religious organization.
“And Quiboloy, they propped him up precisely so he could become his natural money laundering machine. Because you cannot question religion. But then, if you look at Quiboloy’s church, it does not have the capacity to raise that amount of money,” Trillanes said.
Torre said he believed Trillanes’ statement.
“We do not need a big investigation to see the obvious. If Quiboloy’s followers were really very strong and very many, why was it not seen on the ground?” Torre said.
Torre said authorities saw the reality inside the Kingdom of Jesus Christ compound during the 16-day police operation to serve the warrant of arrest against Quiboloy in Davao City.
He cited KOJC’s 39th anniversary on September 1, 2024, which he said was attended by the Vice President and known personalities in Davao, but only drew around 2,400 attendees.
Torre also claimed that many of those who attended were merely brought in.
“The actual estimate of their membership in the Philippines? Far from the image being shown,” Torre said.
Torre said that if Quiboloy truly had a wide base of influence and support, large rallies should have continued while authorities were enforcing the warrant of arrest against him.
“But there was none. Sometimes, we do not need to believe propaganda. We only need to look at reality,” Torre said.
Torre said Quiboloy’s wealth must be explained if it did not come from the size of KOJC’s membership.
“If the wealth did not come from the number of members — where did it come from? That is what must be answered,” Torre said.
