President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday, April 8, assured Kingdom of Christ leader Pastor Apollo Quiboloy and former Negros Oriental congressman Arnolfo Teves of fair treatment in the handling of their cases.
But Marcos, who was in Bacolod City, rejected Quiboloy’s setting the conditions for his surrender.
Quiboloy is demanding the assurance of the Marcos administration that the United States will not meddle in the criminal cases he is facing.
“It seems to be a little bit ‘tail wagging the dog’ for him to set the condition for government on the handling of his case, when he is the one accused and the subject of an arrest warrant,” Marcos said.
“Tail wagging the dog” is an idiom that usually refers to something important or powerful being controlled by something less so, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
“We will exercise all the compassion to Pastor Quiboloy, we’ve known him for a very long time. What I can promise is all the proceedings will be fair,” Marcos said.
“As to the involvement of the United States, that’s a long way off. That’s going to take years, yet. So, I don’t think that’s something he needs to worry about, quite frankly,” he added.
The president also issued the same promise to Teves who was arrested in Timor Leste last month, in the same ambush interview in Bacolod.
While Teves’ claims that he is afraid for his life on his return to the Philippines, Marcos said no one has issued any threat against him.
Philippine authorities are working for the repatriation of Teves after his arrest in Dili, East Timor.
Teves is facing multiple murder charges in connection with the killing of Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo and nine others in March 2023, and three others in 2019.*