HE IS the most vilified minister of God. Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy, the executive pastor of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, the Name Above Every Name. He is maligned in every turn where nasty and envious quarters watch him trip or speak of words that are unfamiliar with dogmas or beliefs of traditional church.
When his private jet, a gift to him from grateful person or persons who wish not to be identified, was held in Hawaii by airport authorities, the rumor mill churned out unkind diatribes. When he flew home in a commercial flight and then later the executive jet was released the nosy critics were quiet and never bothered to ask how and why.
Last Wednesday, April 25, Pastor Apollo delivered a message to a crowd of about 50,000 men women and children, mostly children, gathered in a quadrangle of Jose Maria College (JMC). It was his birthday. The pastor, dressed simply, did not speak of a single word of remorse as ordinary mortals would, instead he preached of love and forgiveness and his commitment to help those in need. He launched that day what he termed as “Love Revolution”.
Maybe my readers would frown on this assertion but I write from what I personally knew since he and his flock do not flaunt the help that he extends to the poor and the unfortunate. Since I mentioned JMC it might shock many in disbelief to know that a large percentage of students enrolled in the school are fulltime scholars with allowances to boot. When the killer typhoon Pablo flattened human habitations in the provinces of Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley, killing hundreds of people and devastated agricultural crops along its path and rendered thousands homeless and without food, the Kingdom lost no time in sending truckloads of relief good and food items to various places in the area for several days. While today the Kingdom has several radio stations and a television network that is beamed worldwide so very little is shown of such magnitude of benevolence. His acts of mercy are kept within the confines of the Kingdom’s hall.
But who is Pastor Apollo? The Pastor started his ministry with just a handful of adherents. I first heard him preach on radio as he was a blocktimer in one of the local stations in Davao. There were times when he can hardly pay the airtime that now and then he is off the air. He has a few adherents and was driving a rickety car which very often was in the repair shop. A new lawyer was patronizing the same shop and like him was driving a hand-me-down Wolkswagen which, like the pastor’s car, has to be repaired as frequently. The lawyer’s name is Rodrigo R. Duterte.
Once, the pastor disappeared from his radio program and nobody cared. Nobody even bothered to ask why. About five years or so later he surfaced from living a virtual life of a hermit in a mountain of Tamayong and then later in Mt. Kitbog but he turned to be like a living bible, people close to him recall. He still had about 15 loyal members to start wth but this would later become a big crowd. The first time I came face to face with him, I was amazed by his memory of the bible verses. Some critics even take it against him for preaching without holding the sacred book.
Fast forward, in the early 2000’s Pastor Quiboloy flew in from San Francisco, CA, and was met at the airport at NAIA. There were four SUVs waiting and the driver asked him whether he wants to sit in the lead car, middle or the last. Pastor Apollo used to ride on a taxi so he asked: “Kaninong mga sasakyan yan?” The driver replied “sa inyo lahat yan pastor”.
Years later, the Kingdom acquired a radio network with 23 stations nationwide. In 2014 he invited me to take part in an interview over his Sonshine TV. His guest was Rodrigo R. Duterte, Mayor of Davao City. The TV station, is equipped with the state-of-the art television facilities and is based in Davao which he calls the “New Jerusalem”. In 2015, on and off his TV program “Give Us this Day”, Pastor Apollo would prod the Mayor to run for President because he had a recurring vision of him landing in a chopper in the grounds of Malacañang and was met by Duterte. Pastor Apollo interpreted this to mean that the Mayor is to become President. I was privy to the several occasions when, over cups of tea, the pastor would challenge the mayor to run. Duterte would laugh it off and would dismiss the importunings of Quiboloy as an ultimate joke.
Today, Pastor Apollo travels around the world preaching in every nook and corner that is humanly possibe to reach. While in his youth in Parang, Cotabato he flies a kite today he flies in an executive jet. He has two choppers to take him in his sorties in the Philippines and to carry emergency relief goods. In the last Presidential elections he lent his plane and chopper to a lawyer friend from way back when they can hardly buy a replacement for the rickety cars. That friend, Rodrigo Duterte, is now President of the Republic of the Philippines. A vision fulfilled.
As I listened to the man while he speaks before a huge crowd in Jose Ma. College, I pondered in awe why people begrudge him for calling himself the son of God. What is so wrong and devilish about that statement. It takes courage, sacrifice and commitment to claim that. The other choice is to say you are the son of the devil. And when you wonder how the pastor evolved after that long isolation in the forested mountains of Kitbog and Tamayong you cannot help but asked why he is so blessed when his unrelenting critics curse him for his preachings which to them are sacrilegious and wrong.
I do not want to judge for I don’t know of any yardstick that could measure what’s right or wrong. But certainly there is something in the enormity of immeasurable blessings that Pastor Apollo is favored with that tell or define who is truly the son of God and who is not.