Quiboloy’s clowning glory

Quiboloy’s clowning glory

April 13, 2024

By Marvyn Benaning

Vantage Point II

For someone who wore a crown along with Gloria Macapagal Arroyo during an event that declared him the “patron” of the Singapore institution, whatever it was, Apollo Quiboloy reminded us of a favorite quote from Dashiell Hammett: The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.

Now buffeted by criminal charges lodged in Davao City and Pasig City courts, a Senate investigation and indictments in US federal courts, Quiboloy, from Lubao, Pampanga and Davao City, has warned that judicial authorities should stop harassing him because God protects him, meaning he is untouchable, and he won’t burn like laminated wood. Only cult leaders would claim this, and evangelical leaders who joined a South Korea convention many years ago told him curtly when he claimed that God speaks to him that it was time to see a doctor.

Apparently, he didn’t see a shrink, and like other manipulative leaders, he managed to recruit legions of Quiboloyists who wear identical clothes in praising him, not Jesus Christ, not Jehovah, not the God of Baruch Spinoza and certainly not God of Voltaire. Suckers are born every minute, and they believe Quiboloy is the appointed son of god and the owner of the universe. These are the ones who sing paeans to him in Tamayong, Davao City, his refuge in a sprawling area once owned by Manobo datus, some of whom perished when they refused to sell the land to him.

Adamant in insisting he is being harassed, Quiboloy demanded that he will only surface if President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the others sign a written guarantee that he will not be delivered to the FBI and the US Marshals Service to answer charges of wire fraud, dollar salting, sex and human trafficking, abuse of minors and violations of US immigration laws.

He has slammed senators who have worked for his arrest after he had snubbed hearings despite the feverish attempts of Sens. Cynthia Villar, Robin Padilla and two others to prevent the issuance of warrants against him. Voters should remember their names well beyond the 2025 midterm elections. So here we are, with Quiboloy setting conditions for not snubbing the Senate hearing and for materializing when the courts want him to plead guilty or innocent. It is of no moment that the Davao Court reversed itself and found probable cause to charge him. After all, judges and prosecutors do not claim to be appointed children of their god.

Villar, Padilla and others should remember that they belong to the legislative branch and their duty is to craft laws and not to curry favor with religious cults or influence-peddling churches and certainly must not take positions on the basis of their friendship with church leaders or cult personalities. Yet, the Quiboloy case showed just how shallow these legislators are. Of course, they do not know that their job description does not entitle them to pork barrel, which is principal target of graftmanship.

Unlike in Japan, where religious organizations are regulated, or in China and Vietnam, where they are supervised by the state, there are no laws to protect Filipinos from religious cults and leaders with messianic complexes like Quiboloy, who should be answerable to his followers why he has to have helicopters and Gulfstream jets while Protestant ministers and Roman Catholic priests ride tricycles, get ferried in Grab cars or motorcycles or simply walk to their churches. In his messages, and you’ll plenty of them when you’re billeted in Davao City hotels, what is important is his persona and the Gospel matters less than his take on temporal matters.

Quiboloy has been pampered by Duterte, Villar, Padilla and their kind for believing the mirage that the cult leader would deliver, contrary to what the facts show, and when the bloc voting crumbles, it is time for them to remember they are running for votes from human beings, not a gaggle of geese. Just as we hate political dynasties, we must also promote “one-citizen-one-vote,” and ban bloc voting altogether because it encourages graft and meddling by religious groups to gain political influence and protect their business interests. In 2016, only 77% of Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) members voted for Duterte. Bloc voting is banned in many countries and INC members are supposedly not obliged to vote for the choice of INC executive minister.