Apollo ‘The Appointed’

Beleaguered pastor Apollo Quiboloy says his being the “Appointed Son of God” has made him the target of persecution.

This guy has become too far out. He’s a cuckoo.

The Philippines has once again been placed on the map for having another “messiah” who is about to be crucified.

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The huge difference between Apollo “The Appointed” and Jesus The Christ is that while the latter shunned mundane pleasures to preach his gospel, the former indulges in hedonism or pleasures of the flesh to get his message across.

Of course, all the accusations against Quiboloy must be proven in a court of law in the US, but all the evidence – witnesses and all – points to some truth.

Here are the other differences between the self-proclaimed Appointed Son of God and the carpenter from Nazareth who was considered the Son of God by his followers.

While Jesus rode on a donkey, Quiboloy rode in his private jets.

While Jesus preached atop a rock, Quiboloy preached his gospel on the airwaves, with his radio and TV stations.

While Jesus avoided the company of the rich and influential in his time – even criticizing the Pharisees and Scribes – Quiboloy is always in the company of powerful politicians and rich people like him.

The itinerant Jesus slept in the houses of his poor disciples; on the other hand, Quiboloy lives in a sprawling mansion atop a hill in Davao City and stays in first-class hotels whenever he’s out of his abode.

Jesus didn’t carry any deadly weapon in his person; Quiboloy’s mansion was raided by New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas who ransacked his armory.

While Jesus preached his sermon without pomp, Quiboloy preaches his gospel with gorgeous women behind him.

The above-cited differences between Jesus the peripatetic preacher and Quiboloy the hedonist also apply to other modern-day preachers and pastors who live off the monetary contributions of their gullible followers.

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I doubled up in laughter when I read Quiboloy lawyer Ferdinand Topacio’s claim that the news about his client being in the FBI’s Wanted List was meant to tarnish the name of President Digong.

(FBI stands for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the US counterpart of our National Bureau of Investigation [NBI]; needless to say, the comparison ends there.)

Anyway, Topacio’s claim that the United States was planning to destroy Mr. Duterte by going after Quiboloy is preposterous. Topacio’s logic is extremely funny.

The blabbermouth lawyer’s reasoning is shot full of holes in that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which he implies is behind the besmirching plot to destroy Duterte’s reputation, has nothing to do with the FBI’s order to arrest Quiboloy.

Contrary to Topacio’s claim, the CIA and the FBI are at loggerheads; one is protecting its country’s national security and interests abroad, while the other is enforcing the laws of the United States.

The CIA is an adjunct unit of the State Department albeit autonomous, while the FBI is one of the agencies of the Department of Justice.

I said the two agencies are at “loggerheads” because at times they work at cross-purposes. For example, a CIA’s asset or spy might be among the personalities in the FBI’s most wanted list.

It’s in the national interest of the US to keep friends with the Philippines no matter who its leader is. It’s to the mutual benefit of both countries to keep its close ties with each other.

Gone are the days when the US, through the CIA, interfered in our politics.

The then infamous US Air Force colonel and CIA operative in the Philippines Edward Lansdale, President Ramon Magsaysay’s bosom buddy, died in 1987.

Although Quiboloy is Digong’s friend, he is of no consequence to the US as he doesn’t even hold a position in the current administration.

Quiboloy being a spiritual adviser to the President is a misnomer as Digong, judging from my several idle talks with him, is an agnostic.

President Digong will not interfere if the petition to extradite Quiboloy to the US comes.

Digong was a government prosecutor before he became Davao City mayor, and that position made him an expert in criminal law.

Like any lawyer worth his salt, Mr. Duterte will have his hands off Quiboloy’s extradition for a crime allegedly committed in the US.

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The government should be more considerate and humane towards private firms that are barely surviving at this time of the pandemic.

Business is bad and among the hardest hit is the sector that supplies food to restaurants, hotels and grocery stores and exports seafood and fish from the Philippines.

One such business is Yeung Marine Products Inc. which, before the COVID-19 crisis, was raking in money and paying the right amount of taxes to the government.

Drastic cut-down of orders for seafood and fish from abroad, delays in payments from its customers – restaurants, hotels and grocery stores – have made business sluggish for Yeung Marine for the past two years.

The Parañaque City government, it seems, doesn’t care.

All it wants is for the company to comply with the city ordinance for it to pay its yearly business tax to the local government.

The food company, which paid P2 million in full for business tax during the pre-pandemic days, requested that the payment be staggered. It would pay the city every day until the P525,000 quarterly payment was fully paid.

The request was denied.

The deadline for the quarterly payment was on Feb. 6, 2022, which fell on a Sunday.

When the firm’s representative brought with him the P525,000 on Monday, Feb. 7, he was told he would have to pay a fine of P100,000 more for late payment for one day.

Geez, no heart!