Commentary: Quiboloy’s arrest – when self-proclaimed ‘Son of God’ plays politics

MANILA: Apollo Quiboloy gave himself many titles: Senior pastor. Appointed son of God. Owner of the universe. But on Sep 8, the once-influential Filipino televangelist and spiritual adviser to former president Rodrigo Duterte was arrested on more earthly charges: Human trafficking, and child and sexual abuse. His arrest underscores the power play between two duelling political dynasties in the Philippines.
The arrest (or surrender, according to Quiboloy’s camp) concluded a 16-day search for Quiboloy inside the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) church compound in Davao City, in southern Philippines. Quiboloy pleaded not guilty to the charges. The pastor was also on the US Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI’s) most wanted list after a warrant was issued in November 2021 for similar charges, as well as cash smuggling.
The accusations against the preacher are grave and truly revolting. Quiboloy and KOJC officials reportedly hired young women between 12 and 25 years old to serve as “pastoral” or personal assistants. Some were required to do “night duty”, a shorthand for sex with Quiboloy, to show their obedience to “god’s will” and avoid “eternal damnation“.
Moreover, the FBI indictment stated that Quiboloy would also “force members to solicit donations for a bogus charity” that were instead used to finance the church and the KOJC leadership’s “lavish lifestyles”. Former church members revealed that a private militia called “angels of death” were allegedly deployed to intimidate or even kill anyone who challenged the pastor.
Collusion between Quiboloy and political actors should not come as a surprise. Quiboloy and KOJC would not have reached this level of notoriety without the help of powerful politicians, starting from his home base of Davao until the presidential palace.
He is, after all, a close ally, friend, and “spiritual adviser” of Rodrigo Duterte, who ruled Davao for nearly three decades as its mayor before assuming the presidency in 2016. The former president even took over as administrator of Quiboloy and the KOJC’s assets following the pastor’s arrest.
Duterte admitted that Quiboloy would offer him material gifts such as properties and cars but claimed that he would refuse them. Recently, a whistleblower said that Quiboloy would also gift women to Duterte and other officials.
Their relationship reached its peak in 2016 when Quiboloy backed Duterte’s presidential campaign. Duterte’s win supposedly fulfilled a 1998 dream of Quiboloy’s, which prophesied the mayor’s rise to the presidency.
However, this was not the pastor’s first foray into national politics. In 2004, Quiboloy claimed that he heard “a voice from above” saying that former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was chosen to lead the country. Arroyo won a full six-year term after succeeding the ousted former president Joseph Estrada.
Quiboloy gave his blessing for the 2010 elections to Gilberto Teodoro, Arroyo’s defence secretary and the administration candidate, as he was the Almighty Father’s “appointed” one. Teodoro placed a distant fourth that year, which saw the election of his cousin, Benigno Aquino III.
Quiboloy’s political endorsements are less prophetic revelations from a Supreme Being and more exercises that flaunt his growing political influence. As of 2016, the church claimed that it had as many as six million members in the Philippines and overseas.
By 2022, Quiboloy had become a well-sought-after elections endorser. He threw his full support to the “Uniteam” ticket of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, son and namesake of the late dictator, and Sara Duterte, daughter of the former president.
KOJC’s media arm, Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI), turned into an all-out propaganda platform for Uniteam, carrying full coverage of their campaign rallies and programmes featuring hosts who regularly attacked their opponents. Marcos Jr skipped all presidential debates save for the one organised by SMNI.
Marcos Jr and Sara Duterte won the 2022 elections with an outright majority, the first such instance after the 1986 revolution that toppled the dictatorship. Notably, SMNI was among the three media outlets invited to Marcos’ first press conference as president-elect. (Another invited network was NET 25, owned by the Iglesia Ni Cristo, another influential church that endorsed Marcos and Duterte.)
But it did not take long for the tenuous Uniteam alliance to unravel. The power play between the two biggest political dynasties in the Philippines has erupted into an all-out war leading to next year’s midterm elections and the 2028 presidential race, where the embattled Sara Duterte is expected to run for president.
Given the gravity of the alleged crimes and international pressure, the Marcos Jr government has no choice but to prosecute Quiboloy and bring him to justice. President Marcos had distanced himself from Quiboloy, saying that he would not receive any “special treatment”. Quiboloy also faces the “inevitable” prospect of extradition to the US, though Marcos Jr maintained that he must first face his cases in the Philippines before this happens. Quiboloy’s could be one of the proxy battles between the warring Marcos and Duterte dynasties.
Politically, the Marcoses have the opportunity to neutralise a key ally of the Dutertes. Since the alliance’s breakup, SMNI had become the voice of the so-called Duterte-led “opposition”, covering rallies that called for Marcos’ resignation. Vice President Sara Duterte even apologised to KOJC members for making them support Marcos Jr, and claimed that the raids violated the group’s religious freedom.
But Quiboloy will not be the last person to commit abuses in the name of religion – especially in a society that still values faith. For instance, abuses within the Catholic Church and corruption within indigenous churches such as the Iglesia ni Cristo are “often left unchecked” because of their influence (the latter is a non-Trinitarian Christian denomination).
As the 2025 midterm election approaches, politicians will again bend their knees just to secure the support of any religious leader who claims to command the votes of their followers. And it will not be a surprise if these same politicians would close their eyes to the abominable acts of Quiboloy in exchange for votes.
Robbin Dagle is a lecturer at the Department of Communication and a research assistant in the Department of Development Studies at the Ateneo de Manila University. This commentary first appeared on the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute’s blog, Fulcrum.