Volume 6, Issue No. 34
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
Our latest as of Saturday, March 1, 2025
~ The self-ordained "Appointed Son of God" or ASOG, has come down from his heavenly perch and is now running for senator in the Philippines in the May 12, 2025 general elections. His disciples are campaigning for him here in Toronto. I encountered one at a mall yesterday, Friday, Feb. 28, who tried to convince me to vote for him. I explained that ASOG Apollo C. Quiboloy is on the "most wanted" list of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for human trafficking, among other criminal charges. By the way, who appointed him?
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EVEN AS HE'S WANTED BY THE F.B.I.
'Appointed Son of God' Runs for Senate Seat
Disciples of Apollo Quiboloy Are Campaigning in Toronto
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
"A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth." - Aesop
TORONTO - As I was leaving after a hearty meal at Lawrence Allen Centre's food court, a Filipino woman in her late 30s or early 40s approached me at the table this Friday (Feb. 28) afternoon with a bagful of flyers and proffered one.
"Pilipino ka kuya?" she asked. "Of course, I am" I responded. "Iboto niyo eto," she said, meaning the man in the flyer. "Kandidato para maging senador," she added.
I looked without accepting it, and lo and behold, the smiling, fully-groomed image was that of Apollo C. Quiboloy, who's running for a Senate seat in the May 12, 2025 general election in the Philippines.
"Wanted ng FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) yan," I told her as a matter of fact. "Kuya, fake news yun, huwag kang maniwala dun," she stated, insisting that Quiboloy, 75 years old this April 25, was a victim of disinformation.
"Alam mo ba, maniac yang Quiboloy na yan, marami ng nabiktima yan, kaya nga wanted ng FBI," I explained, hoping she would stop campaigning in Toronto malls where many Filipinos congregate.
"Kuya, na-dismiss na yun," she asserted, expressing her full support and belief in his innocence. Still I tried to convince her, boasting a little that I'm a journalist with some deep knowledge about him.
(Related video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9o7oJDmSHI).
This woman kept an eye on Filipinos having their meal and was hopping from table to table distributing Quiboloy's flyers. I observed that most of the people refused to accept the flyers, and some who did just threw them away after she left.
Anyway, as soon as I got home, I double-checked with the FBI. She could be right. She might have new information that I didn't know.
I reasoned that Quiboloy would not have the nerve to run for one of the highest public offices in the Philippines if criminal cases against him in the U.S. hang over his head.
Were it not for his dubious claim that he is the "Appointed Son of God," and a pastor of the so-called Kingdom of Jesus Christ, Quiboloy would not be mistaken for anything other than a sweet-talking scam artist, a commoner.
Manila media reports say he is one of the "richest and influential" religious leaders in the Philippines. Fact or fiction, Quiboloy reportedly commands a big following, particularly in the Southern Philippine city of Davao, the bailiwick of the Duterte family, where he was born of parents from Pampanga.
His close affinity with the Duterte patriarch, former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, was probably the reason he got a berth in Team Duterte's PDP-Laban senatorial ticket.
Quiboloy's questionable background may not suit well with voters even as the team is quite a powerhouse with the likes of Senators Bato de la Rosa and Bong Go, and Representative Rodante Marcoleta.
What makes Quiboloy extraordinary despite the god-like image he tries hard to cultivate is that he remains in the FBI's "Most Wanted" list along with his women cohorts, namely, Teresita Tolibas Dandan and Helen Panilag.
It was three years ago when the three of them - Quiboloy, Dandan, and Panilag - landed on that list. They're still there as of this writing today, Feb. 28.
(Full article at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/02/fbi-issues-arrest-warrant-for-appointed.html).
Here's what the FBI says (italics mine for emphasis):
"Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, the founder of a Philippines-based church, is wanted for his alleged participation in a labor trafficking scheme that brought church members to the United States, via fraudulently obtained visas, and forced the members to solicit donations for a bogus charity, donations that actually were used to finance church operations and the lavish lifestyles of its leaders.
"Members who proved successful at soliciting for the church allegedly were forced to enter into sham marriages or obtain fraudulent student visas to continue soliciting in the United States year-round.
"Furthermore, it is alleged that females were recruited to work as personal assistants, or 'pastorals,' for Quiboloy and that victims prepared his meals, cleaned his residences, gave him massages and were required to have sex with Quiboloy in what the pastorals called 'night duty'.”
"Quiboloy was indicted by a federal grand jury in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, Santa Ana, California, for conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion and sex trafficking of children; sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion; conspiracy; and bulk cash smuggling, and on November 10, 2021, a federal warrant was issued for his arrest."
This FBI statement would hopefully convince Quiboloy's apostles in Toronto to rethink about supporting their candidate. (More info available at: https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/human-trafficking/apollo-carreon-quiboloy (Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved).
