YouTube takedown nothing new, says Quiboloy

After his official YouTube channel was taken down, Pastor Apollo Quiboloy on Thursday said that all accusations against him were “fabricated” and he is being put under a “political and religious persecution” by the United States.

The pastor, who is on the wanted list of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) over alleged sex trafficking, said that the attacks against him show that the US only wants to assert its dominance over other countries like the Philippines.

“Hindi tayo tunay na malaya, pinapakialaman tayo sa bansa natin eh. Itong ginagawa sa ’kin is both political and religious persecution. Alam ko ‘yun. Itong lahat ng mga akusasyon na ginawa, fabricated lahat. Pinatong sa ulo ko pagkatapos ipinaangkin sa 'kin. Sila gumawa no’n tapos ipa-angkin sa’yo. Tapos gagamitin nila ang mga batas nila,” Quiboloy said in an SMNI interview.

(We are not truly free because the US is meddling. What is being done to me is both political and religious persecution. I know that. All their accusations are fabricated. The US placed them on my head, and they are using their laws against me.)

American video sharing and social media platform YouTube earlier announced the removal of Quiboloy’s channel due to alleged violation of community guidelines. This was after a user questioned YouTube for hosting his channel even if he is already wanted in the US.

According to YouTube, “Google is committed to compliance with applicable US sanctions laws and enforces related policies under its Terms of Service. After review and consistent with these policies, we terminated the Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy YouTube channel.”

Quiboloy, however, stressed that there was nothing new with this act, and it only shows that the US is “unfair” and is doing him “injustice.”

“Tinake down ata ‘yung YouTube account. Well, nothing new. Pareho pa rin ang mga issues. Nothing new. Ganon pa rin,” he said.

(The YouTube account was taken down. Well, it’s nothing new. The issues are still the same.)

“Sinisikil niyo kami. Ngayon, tinake-down niyo ang YouTube ko. Karapatan ninyo ‘yan pero nakikita ng taumbayan kung ano kayo ngayon. Masama kayo. Unfair kayo. Injustice ang ginagawa ninyo dahil may tumatatayo para sa katotohanan at para sa tama,” he added.

(You are oppressing us. Now, you took down my YouTube. That's your right but the people are seeing what you are now. You are bad. You are unfair. You are doing injustice because someone is standing for the truth and for what is right.)

In November 2021, Quiboloy and other church officials, including two US-based church administrators, were indicted in the US for allegedly running a sex-trafficking operation that threatened victims as young as 12 with "eternal damnation" and physical abuse.

Quiboloy also warned the public to stop "persecuting, prosecuting, and maligning" him, or suffer more from the pandemic.

In the Philippines, complaints for rape, child abuse and human trafficking had been filed against Quiboloy and five other church members, but were dropped by the Davao City Prosecutor's Office in 2020, citing lack of evidence.—LDF, GMA Integrated News