By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
I don’t know which gets my blood more excited – compelling human rights cases waiting to be filed against President Duterte or the boiling soup of sex and money crimes Pastor Apollo Quiboloy is embroiled in.
For now, any case against the former – even for “betrayal of public trust” in the Pharmally mess – is bound to stay static. His culpability, though, will well outlast his term in office and, by the first of July, we’ll see how well he holds up before the judicial order under the new tenant in Malacanang.
This leaves us with the curious case of his spiritual adviser, whose church, for fear of hell’s rave, I dare not state in full but refer only as “the kingdom.” Quiboloy first called himself “The Appointed Son of God” 36 years ago, leading a religious sect (I didn’t say cult, okay?) in a rented space in Davao City.
You’re just as befuddled as I am on how he attracted the likes of doctors, engineers, lawyers, and other professionals to embrace his self-styled faith, slowly building chapters of his church here and abroad until he had his own “Garden of Eden.”
Literally, he built this Garden of Eden, the seat of his kingdom, on a sprawling mountainside in Barangay Tamayong, Calinan, Davao City. And how did he do it? The lawyer-daughter of the barangay captain of Tamayong says Quiboloy harassed the Lumads to force them to sell their lands at floor prices.
For the longest time, we knew something felt off about Quiboloy’s kingdom, the cash flow, the beautiful young ladies parading behind him as he preached, or the heavily-armed guards that kept watch at his fortress yet even hardcore media practitioners in Davao kept their distance.
They knew that if they investigated all the suspicion that surrounded him, Quiboloy would not be knocked off his pulpit and his response would be far from the forgiveness of a holy man than hell raining down on them.
Of course, his lowly ministers and coordinators must have no idea about any illegal activity, for they are not part of the inner circle. And as for those complicit in Quiboloy’s ways, they never would share what they know about what goes on inside for fear of what would happen to them.
Now, we can congratulate Quiboloy for making it to the FBI’s Most Wanted. Serious charges of sex trafficking of children and bulk cash smuggling are high crimes no state with an extradition treaty with the United States can simply ignore.
Chief State Counsel George Ortha II should be lauded for his fearless declaration that no amount of closeness to the President would spare Quiboloy from the Department of Justice’s commitment to the process of law if and when the US State Department sends its extradition request.
Perhaps at this point, Duterte’s friendship with Quiboloy can be best displayed by not vouching for him. If the Chief Executive really believes he is a profoundly religious man despite ridiculing bishops, men of the cloth, and even God himself, he should just pray that God’s will be done and his friend be taught a good lesson.
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