Quiboloy hires legal eagle

“Appointed Son of God” Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, who’s facing charges of sex trafficking of adults and children, money laundering and cash smuggling in the United States, has hired the services of a topnotch law firm, Bird Marella.

The law firm, composed mostly of Harvard Law graduates, doesn’t come cheap; it reportedly charges $250,000 in acceptance fees and $1,500 per hour during trials.

One of the principal associates of Bird Marella is Gary S. Lincenberg, a former Assistant United States Attorney.

As a federal attorney, Lincenberg knows the mechanics of a trial by jury.

Lincenberg is, in fact, considered among the most experienced and skilled trial lawyers in the US.

Lincenberg is best known for his strategic approach to avoiding charges against his clients, and for his superior skills at trial, according to Bird Marella’s official website.

He is an instructor at the Harvard Law School’s Trial Advocacy class and has made numerous lectures on how to win court trials.

Given Lincenberg’s skills, Quiboloy might be able to avoid going to trial for all the charges against him and his church, the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, The Name Above Every Name.

If the petition to drop the charges against Quiboloy is rejected by the California Federal Court and the controversial pastor is extradited to the US, the trial will be watched by hundreds of thousands.

In February 2018, federal agents seized $350,000 along with gun parts on Quiboloy’s plane in Honolulu.

Released after being detained for a day at the Honolulu airport, Quiboloy took a commercial flight home.

However, some of Quiboloy’s followers were convinced by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to confess he allegedly sexually abused minors and female adults.

They also told FBI investigators he committed cash smuggling, money laundering, labor trafficking and marriage fraud.

The charges were filed in Los Angeles, California and Honolulu, Hawaii.

As of February 2022, the government has yet to receive an extradition request from the US.

Some experts say talks about Quiboloy’s extradition may take years.

Quiboloy is the second prominent Filipino to face extradition to the US.

Billionaire Mark Jimenez, then a congressman, voluntarily left the country during extradition proceedings to face charges of tax evasion and election offenses in the US.

Jimenez was convicted and sentenced to 27 months in prison in Miami, Florida.

After serving his sentence, Jimenez, President Joseph Estrada’s financial adviser, was never the same again. He talked incoherently with friends and died on April 25, 2017, at the age of 70.

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If Quiboloy gets convicted of the charges of sexually abusing children, he might suffer a fate worse than Jimenez’s after being released from prison.

Persons convicted of having sex with minors are reportedly beaten up by fellow inmates in US prisons. Even in prison, inmates hate persons convicted of sex offenses involving minors.

The tag of pedophilia is carried by the sex convict even after his release from prison; he becomes a pariah in the community he lives in.

Lincenberg’s defense of Quiboloy could be one of the watersheds in his law practice.

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I apologize to former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for writing that she could have pardoned retired Army Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan after he was convicted of kidnapping by a Bulacan court but didn’t do so.

GMA was no longer president when Palparan was convicted, apparently under tremendous pressure from leftist groups.

The general, once tagged a nemesis of the New People’s Army (NPA), was convicted during the time of President Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte.

The trial started during the administration of President Noynoy Aquino, who hated GMA like the plague.

Aquino’s pressure on the court to convict Palparan was due to his closeness to GMA who once called him “my hero.”

Remember Noynoy pressured the Senate, acting as a court, into dismissing Renato Corona as chief justice during impeachment proceedings. Corona was appointed by GMA as chief justice.

Palparan was one of GMA’s favorite generals for his relentless operations against the NPA. He was once tagged as berdugo (executioner) by leftist groups in NPA-held places where his unit operated.

Palparan was left holding the bag, so to speak, by his fellow generals.

The court believed the allegations of a suspected NPA detainee who linked Palparan and two other soldiers to the kidnapping of two University of the Philippines (UP) students.

The two female coeds were never found. Palparan and his fellow respondents were not at the scene of the kidnapping.

It was impossible for GMA to have granted Palparan pardon because she was no longer president.

Again, my apologies.

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The election campaign has gone to the gutter.

Retired Election Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said in a campaign speech that people should not vote for a presidential candidate who is “ugly.”

However, she didn’t mention the name of the candidate she referred to as pangit.

If Guanzon was referring to the physical features of the candidate, her insult might bounce back at her.

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Former senator JV Ejercito, who is running again, along with his brother, Jinggoy Estrada, refers to himself as “the good one.”

Who is the bad one, JV?

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Reelectionist Sen. Dick Gordon, teetering between victory and defeat in the pre-election surveys, is not appreciated by voters for his humanitarian work.

Gordon is one of the most active heads of the Philippine Red Cross.

His dedication to his work in the Senate and in the Red Cross is the stuff of legend.

If Dick is not included in the “Winning 12” after the votes are counted in the May 9 elections, the Senate will lose a watchdog.