Sara Duterte urges ex-witness to file cases after recanting testimony vs Quiboloy

MANILA — Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday urged a former Senate witness to file charges after he alleged that Sen. Risa Hontiveros paid him P1 million to falsely testify against televangelist Apollo Quiboloy in congressional investigations.

Michael Maurillo — also known as “Alias Rene” — earlier retracted his sworn statements detailing supposed abuses inside Quiboloy’s Kingdom of Jesus Christ, saying that he was paid to implicate the pastor, who is a known ally of Vice President Sara Duterte and former President Rodrigo Duterte.

“That is a very serious accusation and that should be answered clearly kung ano talaga ang nangyare,” the Vice President said in a chance interview in the Netherlands.

“Kung sa tingin ni Alias Rene na siya ay dapat mag file ng kaso, dapat gawin niya din yun para masabi niya yung totoo sa loob ng korte at nakakasagot din ng maayos ang mga akusado sa korte

Duterte said that she was able to read Maurillo’s affidavit before the former Senate witness uploaded a video recanting his earlier statements against Quiboloy.

“Nabasa ko na yung affidavit niya bago pa siya lumabas publicly,” the Vice President said without giving details who she was able to obtain a copy of the said document.

“Mayroon pang nakalagay doon na kasama niya ang mga witnesses kuno sa isang bahay kung saan siya pinatira ni Risa Hontiveros,” she said.

“Sabi niya (Maurillo) na kasama niya sa tirahan ang mga witnesses ng ICC,” she said.

The former president’s defense lawyers gave been informed of this development, the Vice President said.

Hontiveros has denied Maurillo’s allegations that she bribed him to stand as a Senate witness, and filed libel charges against Maurillo and several vloggers who disseminated his supposedly false accusations.

The senator noted that it was Maurillo who approached her office, and described himself as one of Quiboloy’s victims.

Last year, the Senate investigated allegations of sexual and physical abuse inside Quiboloy’s KOJC, with several women claiming that the televangelist had been raping some members of the religious group.

Quiboloy ran in the 2025 midterm elections under the so-called “Duter-10” slate, a group of senatorial candidates endorsed by the Duterte family.

The televangelist lost in the said elections and is currently detained at a jail in Pasig City after a non-bailable qualified human trafficking charge was filed against him last year. He is also facing charges for violating the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act.