Fugitive televangelist and ex-President Rodrigo Duterte’s spiritual adviser Pastor Apollo Quiboloy is now in government custody.

Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos Jr. announced on Facebook around 6.30 p.m. on Sunday that the self-appointed “Son of God” had been caught: “Nahuli na si Apollo Quiboloy.” 

Abalos also posted a photo of Quiboloy wearing a black beanie, a black shirt and a white and black scarf around his neck, along with his lawyer Israelito Torreon and an unidentified man. Abalos did not say whether the photo had to do with Quiboloy’s capture.

Harry Roque, Duterte’s former spokesperson, said on his Meta page at past 8 p.m. Sunday that Quiboloy surrendered to the Isafp, or the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. 

The Philippine National Police (PNP) has been searching for the controversial religious leader, who is charged with a number of crimes in the Philippines and in the United States, in his base, the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) compound in Davao City. The search has been ongoing for over two weeks following intelligence reports that Quiboloy was hiding in the 30-hectare property.

Quiboloy is charged in a Davao court with sexual molestation and child abuse, and in the regional trial court of Pasig City with the nonbailable crime of human trafficking. He is also in the US Federal Bureau of Investigation’s wanted list for alleged conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, sex trafficking of children, conspiracy, and bulk cash smuggling.

The Senate has also ordered Quiboloy’s arrest for his refusal to appear before its committee hearings on similar sexual abuse and trafficking allegations.

In media interviews following Abalos’ announcement that Quiboloy had been caught, Davao police director Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III, the ground commander of the search operations for the fugitive KOJC leader, said reporters should ask Abalos for details as it was the interior secretary who broke the news. He said he did not know the details of Quiboloy’s arrest.

Asked if Quiboloy had sent surrender feelers, Torre again said it was better for the media to direct the question to Abalos. Asked if Quiboloy was taken in Davao City, he said he would like to believe so as there were instructions for the wanted man “to be picked up by an airplane” and “there was a convoy that left the KOJC.”

Torre also said he had been instructed to bring nine vehicles to the Davao City airport hangar and that these were guided by the PNP Aviation Security Group. 

According to Torre, “there was no doubt” that Quiboloy was in the KOJC compound. He said the police search for Quiboloy took a long time because of the vastness of the property, but that the police were eventually able to study the compound.

“I would like to thank Pastor Quiboloy for the realization that this is the right thing to do, to face the law,” Torre said in an interview aired on DZBB radio.

He said he did not want to take credit for Quiboloy’s arrest, adding that it was a “concerted effort of everyone involved.” He thanked the police for their efforts and sacrifices to achieve the “mission.”

“Let’s be proud, we did our job today,” Torre said in a live interview also aired by ABS-CBN. He said he would treat the police with lechon (roast pig) for their Sunday dinner. 

Addressing the KOJC members, who had strongly opposed the police presence in the compound, he said: “I’m thanking the KOJC for their cooperation… I do hope this is the start of the healing. I’m not your enemy, I just played my role.”