HAS Pastor Apollo Quiboloy become Davao City’s elephant in the room?
The founding leader and executive pastor of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, The Name Above Every Name has made several bombastic although some might say blasphemous claims over the years so perhaps his latest announcement should be ignored.
Which would explain why no Davao journalist even gave it a second look. After all, they have better things to do than to take issue with the rantings of a man who claims Davao City to be the new Eden. Or something like that.
Yeah! That guy.
Anyway, according to reports, Quiboloy is asking the people of Mindanao to thank him for making the earthquake stop.
In the Oct. 30, 2019 episode of “Give Us This Day,” a weekly television show produced and aired by the pastor’s religious sect, he told his viewers: “Sabi ko, ‘Lindol, huminto ka.’ Huminto (I said, ‘Earthquake, stop.’ It stopped).”
“Pasalamat kayo sa akin kasi kung hindi ko pina-stop ‘yun, marami kayong magigiba diyan, mamatay kayo (You should be grateful to me because if I did not direct the earthquake to stop, a lot of your homes would be destroyed and you would have died),” he said.
Quiboloy said he had no choice but to divulge his miraculous deed because critics were questioning his legitimacy as the “Appointed Son of God.”
Well, there you go. Give the guy a break. He just wanted to protect his flock and see to it that no harm would befall them.
According to the latest count, 23 people have died from the earthquakes that struck Cotabato and adjacent areas in Mindanao, including Davao City, in the last two weeks.
Seven were killed when the first quake struck on Oct. 16. Ten people died on Oct. 29 and six others lost their lives on Oct. 31.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council reported that at least 403 were hurt: 14 from Northern Mindanao, 16 from Davao, 373 from Soccsksargen, or Region 12, and one from Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
The pastor said many bashers lived in the calamity-stricken areas. That was why these were targeted by God, he said.
“Bakit binabagyo at nililindol and Mindanao? Kasi maraming bashers dito (Why do storms and earthquakes hit Mindanao? Because there are a lot of bashers here),” he said.
I have no idea who he was talking about. Was he referring to non-believers or to critics of the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, who, by the way, is a long-time friend of his?
Either way, the more I read Quiboloy’s statements the more I understand why media in Davao City have ignored him.
People there are still reeling from the loss of lives and properties. It doesn’t help that aftershocks continue to plague them, the effect of which must be nerve-racking. In other words, they have far more pressing matters to attend to. So Quiboloy takes a backseat.
After all, the people of Davao City and the rest of Mindanao know better.