Apollo Quiboloy, head of "the Kingdom of Jesus Christ," a non-Catholic religious group and spiritual adviser of president-elect Rodrigo Duterte, speaks during a press conference in Davao City in southern island of Mindanao on May 23, 2016. Manman Dejeto, AFP/File 

MANILA — Fugitive pastor Appolo Quiboloy cannot be blamed for refusing to submit to the courts on trafficking and sexual cases, his lawyer said Tuesday, claiming "harassment and persecution" by the government.

Speaking on ANC's "Headstart", lawyer Ferdinand Topacio said Quiboloy evading warrants is "not entirely without precedent" as he cited former Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who went into hiding over murder cases that were ultimately junked by the Supreme Court.

READ: DILG announces P15-M reward for info leading to arrest of Quiboloy, co-accused

He said that Lacson "fled the country literally" as a "fugitive from injustice," referring to the former senator's time in hiding from January 2010 to March 2011.

"If a person who is the subject of a warrant feels he cannot get fair and impartial justice under our present system of government — under the executive — then, while I do not condone it, I will be the last person to blame him for refusing to submit himself to a justice system that is far from being fair," Topacio said.

Quiboloy has denied the allegations against him in courts in Davao City and in Pasig, saying these are recycled and came from disgruntled former members of his Kingdom of Jesus Christ group. 

He has said the same of charges against him in the US, where he is also subject of a warrant of arrest.

RELATED: Quiboloy denies hiding, wants protection from extradition

REWARD IS 'PROOF OF PERSECUTION'

The Department of the Interior and Local Government on Monday announced rewards of P10 million for information that would lead to Quiboloy's arrest and P1 million each for his five co-accused, a move that Topacio claimed shows the supposed persecution of Quiboloy.

He said that the bounty "raises a lot of serious questions and is wrong on so many levels."

Topacio said the reward for Quiboloy's arrest was too high, considering accusations of qualified human trafficking and of sexual abuse are "not even violent in nature."

He said that higher rewards should have been offered for information on fugitives like former corrections official Gerald Bantag, the alleged mastermind in the killing of broadcaster Percival Mabasa — better known as Percy Lapid — in 2022.

Topacio also raised doubts on the source of the reward, which Interior and Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos did not divulge. Abalos, in announcing the reward on Monday, said it was from "friends" who want Quiboloy found.

Topacio said that the use of private funds for the reward is "questionable to begin with" and that the sources should be made public.

"Why are they interfering? Why are they subjecting government functions to their whims and caprices?" he said.

In 2018, Topacio offered rewards from "concerned citizens" of P250,000 each for information that would lead to the arrest of former party-list representatives of the Makabayan bloc over murder charges filed in 2006.

The murder charges were junked and the warrants lifted a few weeks after they were issued by a court in Nueva Ecija.

"The enforcement of warrants is a purely governmental function," Topacio stressed Tuesday. 

"If there are people interested in the arrest iof a certain person subject to a warrant and offering a reward, then it raises the question as to why." 

RELATED: Duterte may face raps for ‘hiding’ Quiboloy location — PNP