Groups are calling on Filipinos to reject Duterte and Quiboloy in the 2025 elections

Human rights activists urged Filipino voters on Wednesday to reject former President Rodrigo Duterte and jailed televangelist Apollo Quiboloy in next year’s midterm elections, citing the criminal allegations they face.

Duterte registered to run for mayor in the southern city of Davao on Monday. During his time in office, he led counter-narcotics raids that left thousands of mostly poor suspects dead in killings, which the International Criminal Court has investigated as a possible crime against humanity.

Quiboloy, the former president’s spiritual adviser and close political ally, was arrested on allegations of sexual abuse and human trafficking in the Philippines and is on the FBI’s wanted list for similar charges in the United States. On Tuesday, he submitted application documents through a lawyer for a seat in the 24-member Senate.

Duterte and Quiboloy, who have supported each other for years, have each denied any wrongdoing.

Under Philippine law, candidates facing criminal charges, including those in prison, can run for office unless they have been convicted of a crime by a Philippine court and have exhausted all legal remedies.

Human Rights Watch said Duterte, now 79, cannot escape justice either inside or outside a government office.

“The thousands of victims of his brutal regime both in the Philippines and in Davao, where he was long-time mayor, will continue to demand accountability,” said Caloy Conde, the Philippines-based campaigner for Human Rights Watch, asking Filipino voters who reject him.

“He has too much blood on his hands,” Condé said.

Senator Risa Hontiveros, who is leading a public investigation into child sexual abuse and human trafficking allegations against Quiboloy, expressed shock at his decision to run for Senate.

“For someone who faces so many cases, including human trafficking and child abuse, and who even hides from law enforcement, even has the audacity to present himself to the people as a candidate for legislator,” Hontiveros said in one Explanation.

“Let’s not elect lawbreakers as legislators,” she said.

Cristina Palabay said her human rights group Karapatan and allied nongovernmental organizations would hold public rallies against Duterte, Quiboloy and their allies to prevent them from using public office as a legal shield.

“More and more Filipino voters are aware of who and what they are,” Palabay said in a statement.

According to his government, more than 6,000 people have been killed in Duterte’s crackdown on drugs. But human rights groups say the death toll is significantly higher, ruling out hundreds of killings of suspects in Davao, where Duterte was mayor for years before his presidency.

Duterte has denied condoning extrajudicial killings, although he has publicly threatened to kill suspects and ordered police to shoot suspects who dangerously resist arrest.

Quiboloy, 74, a Filipino televangelist who describes himself as the “anointed son of God” and once claimed to have stopped an earthquake, pleaded not guilty to child abuse and human trafficking charges in two different Philippine courts last month.

At his peak, Quiboloy was one of the Philippines’ most influential religious leaders and was considered a political kingmaker.

As the founder of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ group, he faces similar charges in the United States, where he has been placed on the FBI’s wanted list.

U.S. federal prosecutors announced charges against Quiboloy in 2021, accusing him of coercing women and underage girls into sex under threats of abuse and “eternal damnation” unless they complied with his wishes. The allegations were made by former Quiboloy supporters. He accused them of making up the allegations after they were fired from his organization.

The expanded U.S. indictment included charges of conspiracy, child sex trafficking, sex trafficking by force, fraud, money laundering and visa fraud.

When asked for comment on Quiboloy’s bid for a Senate seat, the U.S. Embassy in Manila said it would not comment on domestic policy issues. (AP)