Apollo Quiboloy threatens to run for president in next year’s polls

Evangelist Apollo Quiboloy of Kingdom of Jesus Christ. INQUIRER file photo / GRIG MONTEGRANDE

DAVAO CITY – Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, the self-anointed Son of God, leader of the religious sect Kingdom of Jesus Christ, the Name Above Every Name, said he would be forced to run for President if there would be nobody strong enough to replace President Rodrigo Duterte.

Quiboloy, the long-time televangelist-friend of the President, made this dare after Senator Manny Pacquiao, who earlier made public he was running for President, continued to ignore his challenge to a public debate.

Quiboloy scored Pacquiao’s earlier discriminatory remarks against the LGBT community, which Pacquiao appeared to have changed after he declared he was running for President.

“Ganyan ang magiging pangulo niyo, mapipilitan akong tumakbo para di na makaiwas sa debate (That would be your next president, I will be forced to run so that he could no longer avoid the public debate),” said Quiboloy in his television program streamed by his own SMNI network Tuesday.

Instead of accepting his challenge, Pacquiao filed a P100 million libel case against the Pastor.

Quiboloy also warned all “CPP-NPA lovers” whom he would target and expose once he decided to run for President. He said he would be very capable of running even if he did not have a political party. “Partido ko ang Dios (God is my political party),” he declared.

“Let’s wait for October 8,” Quiboloy, speaking in Tagalog, said in a message streamed by his own news network SMNI. “You can’t avoid it if it’s the will of the Father,” he said “You, CPP-NPA lovers, you will have to face me if I run for President. I also have my own platform.”

“I hope that I will not be declared a nuisance because I have better capacity than whatever you have. I may not have a political party, my political party is God.”

Should he decide to run, the Pastor threatened to go after all friends, supporters and coddlers of CPP-NPA with the help of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac). He also threatened to campaign against all political candidates who have communist links. “Kailangang matuldukan na ang salot na ‘to [We have to end this plague],” he said.

JPV