MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine National Police Firearms and Explosives Office (PNP FEO) has recommended to revoke the gun license of embattled doomsday preacher Apollo Quiboloy.
PNP FEO public information office chief Major Lady Lou Gonzales confirmed to Rappler that the FEO Firearm Revocation and Restoration Board recommended the revocation of Quiboloy’s license to own and possess firearms (LTOPF), a requirement to legally hold firearms.
The PNP FEO has submitted its resolution to PNP chief Police General Rommel Francisco Marbil for approval, Gonzales added.
The PNP FEO is the unit responsible for the issuance of gun-related licenses and for ensuring that rules in possessing firearms would be followed.
On Monday, April 22, Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros called out the PNP for its supposed slow action in revoking the Quiboloy’s gun licenses despite the warrants against the preacher for his alleged abuses.
A Rappler investigation discovered that Quiboloy has at least 19 firearms with an estimated value of about P2.3 million ($41,000). Thirteen of these licenses will expire in April 2033, which meant that the licenses were issued only in April 2023. Earlier this month, the PNP said Quiboloy could not be considered “armed and dangerous” as yet because there were no indications of prior violence.
Two Philippine courts, in Davao City and Pasig City, have ordered Quiboloy’s arrest. Although Quiboloy can post bail for his Davao City case for alleged sexual and child abuse, his human trafficking case lodged before a Pasig City court is non-bailable.
Aside from local cases, Quiboloy is also wanted in the United States for sexual trafficking. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in a US District Court in Santa Ana, California, in 2021, and landed on the US Federal Bureau of Investigation’s most wanted list.
On top of these, the Senate has also ordered Quiboloy’s arrest. The Senate order stemmed from the upper chamber’s inquiry into the alleged abuses committed by the doomsday preacher. The Senate issued an arrest order after Quiboloy was held in contempt for snubbing the summons of the Senate committee on women, children, family relations, and gender equality, chaired by Hontiveros.
Quiboloy recently went to the Supreme Court to seek the suspension of the Senate order, but the High Court has yet to decide on the petition. – Rappler.com