Apollo Carreon Quiboloy (locally[kɪboˈlɔɪ]; born April 25, 1950) is a Filipino pastor and churchleader of the Philippines-based Restorationist church called theKingdom of Jesus Christ (KJC). Previously a member of the UnitedPentecostal Church, he founded the KJC in 1985, and has made claimsthat he is "the Appointed Son of God" as well asbeing "the Owner of the Universe".

In November 2021, prosecutors inCalifornia announced sex trafficking charges against Quiboloy,alleging that he and several others had sexually abused female churchmembers aged 12 to 25 in exchange for privileges as well as avoiding"eternal damnation". Many of Quiboloy's assets havebeen described as ill-gotten.

Early life

Quiboloy was born on April 25, 1950, inBuhangin, Davao City, specifically in the area of Dumanlas, and isthe youngest of nine children of Pampangans José Quiboloy y Turlaand María Carreón y Quinto (born December 28, 1913). Both hisparents were natives of Lubao, Pampanga, and had migrated to DavaoCity following the end of the Second World War to find betteropportunities. Quiboloy spent his formative years in Pampanga beforemoving back to Davao.

Quiboloy was a member of the UnitedPentecostal Church, a Oneness Pentecostal denomination, until heestablished the Kingdom of Jesus Christ church. Quiboloy's father,José, was already a Protestant (a member of the Christian andMissionary Alliance) but converted to Oneness Pentecostalism with hisfour sons. They all became preachers and leaders in the UnitedPentecostal Church of the Philippines (UPCP), the largest FilipinoOneness Pentecostal Church, which is affiliated to the US-basedUnited Pentecostal Church International. Apollo became president ofthe powerful UPCP youth organization in 1974, but was expelled fromUPCP in 1979 for unorthodox teachings. He came back and was acceptedback into the fold in 1980 as pastor of the Agdao Church in DavaoCity, one of the historical UPCP churches. In 1985, Apollo was putagain under investigation by UPCP for his arrogant attitude towardsother pastors. Rather than submitting to trial, he left UPCP withsome 15 followers on September 1, 1985, and started his owndenomination, later known as the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Quiboloy studied in a Bible college inManila where he graduated from in 1972. He also attended a conferencein South Korea mostly attended by American and Canadian evangeliststhe following year.

Church

Kingdom of Jesus Christ

Quiboloy is the founding leader andExecutive Pastor of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, The Name Above EveryName founded on September 1, 1985. He began preaching in the slums ofVillamor, Agdao, Davao City with only 15 members. He has receivedcritical responses to his claims of being the "Appointed Sonof God".

The sect's main cathedral is locatedalong Buhangin National Highway in Davao City.

His followers refer to their communityas a "Kingdom Nation." They claim about 2 million"Kingdom citizens" abroad and 4 million in thePhilippines. On weekdays, members hold bible sessions and prayerservices. On Sundays, a "Global Worship" is held atthe Cathedral in Buhangin District. In 2000, Quiboloy founded JoséMaría College, named after his parents.

The church under Quiboloy's leadershipwould establish the Sonshine Media Network International (Presidentand CEO), and 17 radio stations in the Philippines. It also has twonewspapers, Pinas and Sikat. The church also has Sonshine SportsManagement, a sports management group established in 2014.

Divinity claims

Quiboloy has claimed possession ofdivine powers, including stopping the 2019 Cotabato earthquakes athis command, and has said that the public should thank him for theact. He has publicly said that he did not do the same to stop theonslaught of Typhoon Kammuri (Tisoy) in response to those critical ofhis earlier claim in stopping the Cotabato earthquakes.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, followinghis indictment by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigationin November 2021, Quibolloy said that the emergence of the Omicroncovid-19 variant is due to the "persecuting, prosecuting andmaligning" he received from the public.

Political involvement

Quiboloy anointed Gilbert Teodoro asthe next president in the 2010 Philippine presidential election.Teodoro finished fourth in the election with 4,095,839 votes (or11.33%). He remarked that he was disturbed by reports of fraud andcheating and wondered to whom did votes from his church went.

In the 2016 national elections,Quiboloy and the members of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ endorsed thepresidential candidacy of the pastor's close friend, Davao City mayorRodrigo Duterte and his running mate Senator Alan Peter Cayetano.Quiboloy also lent his private jet and helicopter to be used inDuterte's presidential campaign. Quiboloy also served as Duterte'sspiritual adviser during his presidency.

In the 2022 national elections,Quiboloy endorsed the candidacy of Bongbong Marcos who was runningfor president. He supported his vice presidential candidate, SaraDuterte as well. Quiboloy's parents' loyal support for formerPresident Ferdinand Marcos was a factor for the endorsement. Quiboloyis also good friends with the Marcos family in general.

Controversies

Quiboloy and the Kingdom of JesusChrist have been sued by a woman for allegedly brainwashing andholding her 19-year-old daughter, who joined the church in 2004,against her will.

Dispute with the New People's Army

The New People's Army (NPA), the armedwing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, has accused Quiboloyof being behind the massacre of K'lata-Bagobo leader Datu DomingoDiarog and his family on April 29, 2008, for allegedly refusing tosell 2 hectares (20,000 m2) of their property for ₱50,000 toQuiboloy and his sect.

The property is within the 700 hectares(7.0 km2) ancestral domain claimed by the Bagobo people in Tugbok andis adjacent to Quiboloy's walled "prayer mountain"in Tamayong.

Diarog's widow said followers ofQuiboloy had threatened to evict them from the land and her relativeswere even offered a ₱20,000 bounty for Diarog's head.

Quiboloy, however, said the chargeswere "totally false and baseless, if not ridiculous."

While Quiboloy has branded the rebels"mga anak ni Satanas" ("Satan's offspring"),the NPA has declared him a "warlord in the service of theArroyo administration's policies against the peasants and indigenouspeoples."

Police investigator Ireneo Dalogdog,head of the Tugbok police office, said he had been receiving reportsthat Diarog was being harassed by armed men associated with Quiboloy,and that Diarog's farmhouse had earlier been razed three times.

2020 ABS-CBN shutdown

In November 2019, Vice Ganda on It'sShowtime! satirized Quiboloy's claims of stopping the series ofearthquakes in Mindanao by exclaiming, "Stop!".Ganda jokingly challenged Quiboloy to also stop the country's longestrunning television series Ang Probinsyano, which had been airing onABS-CBN for at least five years at that point. Quiboloy accepted thechallenge and declared that in four months, the whole network'soperations would shut down as well. On May 5, 2020, the NationalTelecommunications Commission ordered ABS-CBN to cease its televisionand radio broadcasting operations after their 25-year broadcastfranchise expired the previous day. The station then officiallysigned off at 7:52 pm local time the same day. More than two monthslater, on July 10, 2020, the House of Representatives of thePhilippines rejected the new ABS-CBN franchise bid after a 70-11 voteagainst it. Following this, ABS-CBN shifted its news, radio, andentertainment operations into online platforms and other televisionnetworks. Ang Probinsyano released its series finale on August 13,2022.

Rape and sex traffickingaccusations, indictments

Prosecutors on behalf of the UnitedStates Department of Justice indicted Quiboloy and other churchmembers on charges of sex trafficking on November 11, 2021. Theindictment charged him with allegedly coercing girls and young womento have sex with him, as well as running a sex trafficking operationthat threatened victims. Among the claimed victims are children asyoung as twelve. According to the indictment, Quiboloy allegedlythreatened them with "eternal damnation" andphysical abuse, through the fraudulent California charity "Children'sJoy". According to the US Department of Justice'sallegations, underage girls were forced into so-called "nightduties", where they were sexually abused by the pastor.Prosecutors have stated that they will also retrieve Quiboloy's USassets originating from ill-gotten wealth, alleging that he usedchurch donations to pay for his lavish lifestyle. On February 5,2022, the Federal Bureau of Investigation released a wanted posterfor Quiboloy.

As of August 2022, the PhilippineDepartment of Foreign Affairs is still yet to receive an extraditionrequest from the US Department of Justice. Once found to besufficient, the request can then be endorsed to the PhilippineDepartment of Justice.

Notes

A Federal Bureau of Investigationlisted 1947 or 1950 as his birth year. An SMNI News Channel postedQuiboloy's 71st birthday wish on April 27, 2021 on Facebook, thusQuiboloy was born in 1950.