Apollo Quiboloy



For many shall come in my name, saying, 'I am Christ'; and shall deceive many. First of all, to God, then to my beloved country. I am ready to be ostracized or persecuted because of this love – love for humanity as a whole.. Apollo Carreon Quiboloy (locally [kɪboˈlɔɪ]; ), also known as Pak U PACQ, is a Filipino pastor, cult leader, far-right activist and wanted fugitive who founded the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, a Restorationist megachurch based in Davao City, Philippines. A sworn narcissist and crackpot, he styles himself as the "Appointed Son of God" and "the Owner of the Universe", and has made bombastic claims about his divinity, none of which impressed U.S. authorities who clearly wanted his head on their platter due to his extensive criminal record in the States, including but not limited to human trafficking, corruption and child sexual abuse.

A life of kookery
Quiboloy was born and raised in to parents of  origin who migrated to Davao following World War II in search of opportunities. He used to be a member of the prior to making a name for himself by establishing his own congregation in 1985 after a spat with the United Pentecostal Church of the Philippines (UPCP), naming his new sect Kingdom of Jesus Christ, The Name Above Every Name.

The world is yours, or so you think.
Having gained prominence especially in his native Davao, Quiboloy claims to have amassed over six million followers across 200 countries. His televangelism has also unsurprisingly enabled him to acquire assets and venture into industries such as media production and sports management through and  as well as what amounts to his answer to Iglesia ni Cristo's Philippine Arena called the  Quiboloy's influence allowed him to forge connections with prominent politicians in the country, portraying himself as a kingmaker anointing political leaders to be voted by his flock; his family's support for Ferdinand Marcos's dictatorial regime also led him to his friendship and endorsement of Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr., Ferdinand's son and current top honcho at the Malacañang Palace.

And with his senior posting at the megachurch he founded also came in the batshit crazy crankery, having developed a narcissistic god complex by appointing himself as a self-styled messiah, apparently not content with his status as a mere pastor unlike fellow Filipino televangelists and  Quiboloy cultivated a cult of personality centred on himself and his purported status as the Messiah. As such, he had the gall to make bombastic claims about how he is able to control the weather and earthquakes at his command, claiming to have halted the after yelling "Stop!" He also stated that he did not do the same to stop the onslaught of Typhoon Kammuri (Tisoy) in response to those critical of his earlier claim in stopping the Cotabato earthquakes. He also went so far as to make narcissistic claims that the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus was spreading due to the "persecuting, prosecuting and maligning" he received from the public, especially in light of the FBI investigations and US government sanctions levelled against him.

Sonshine with cloudy skies
His propaganda news media arm, Sonshine Media Network International, gained criticism from watchdog and media groups for its alleged far-right bias, peddling of fake news and "red-tagging" against individuals and groups critical of the Duterte administration, having also been complicit with its role in spreading misinformation about the 2022 Philippine elections as well as the broadcast shutdown of media conglomerate of which former president Rodrigo Duterte spuriously accused of bias and illicit foreign connections.

Kicked by a campy horse
In 2019, prominent gay comedian satirised Quiboloy's faux divinity by challenging him to take , a police procedural aired by ABS-CBN since 2015, off the air. ABS-CBN's broadcast franchise was revoked the following year, with which Quiboloy claimed victory.

He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy
As much as I would like to participate in every debate and public forum related to my bid for the presidency, I am compelled to decline the invitation of SMNI, which is owned by Apollo Quibuloy, who, according to the US government, has molested and abused children. I cannot, in good conscience, be part of any activity organized by a man wanted for detestable crimes and who unconscionably used the name of the Lord in vain for religious scams. As if his crankery wasn't enough, a number of former KJC members broke their silence and accused Quiboloy of various offences, including but not limited to human trafficking, child abuse and rape. This led to the United States Department of Justice indicting Quiboloy and other church members in 2021, with the Federal Bureau of Investigation following suit by including him in the Most Wanted list. In December 2022, the US Department of Justice and Department of State imposed sanctions against Quiboloy for human rights abuses and corruption, with key assets owned by Quiboloy in the States seized pursuant to the

The indictment claims that Quiboloy allegedly coerced girls as young as eleven and young women to have sex with him, as well as running a sex trafficking operation that threatened victims under the pain of "eternal damnation" should the victims refuse to comply. Paedophilia aside, the Feds also questioned Quiboloy's wealth — whose assets also include luxury vehicles, real estate, firearms and private jets — which they alleged to have been ill-gotten through prostitution and corruption of church funds.

Further adding fuel to the fire was when the Philippines' Department of Tourism featured Quiboloy on their Facebook page when they promoted their "Love The Philippines" tourism campaign meant to stimulate the tourism industry which was previously impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, all despite backlash concerning Quiboloy's alleged sex offences.

In a stopped clock moment, fellow fundie kook and former boxer Manny Pacquiao declined an invitation by Quiboloy to participate in a debate for the, citing Quiboloy's past sex offences. Quiboloy went apeshit and filed a libel suit against the ex-pugilist, which was dismissed by Davao City prosecutors due to lack of evidence.

Son of God vs Laughing Indian Meme Man
In June 2023, Indian-Canadian YouTuber Mutahar "Muta" Anas, best known for running the gaming commentary channel SomeOrdinaryGamers, filed a complaint against Quiboloy's YouTube accounts to YouTube staff via Twitter, having stumbled upon Quiboloy and learning about the FBI warrant for his arrest. Google later clarified in a statement that the ban was in compliance with existing US government sanctions against Quiboloy. This was later followed by similar bans on several other accounts owned and/or affiliated with Quiboloy, such as the SMNI News and Kingdom of Jesus Christ channels, again in compliance with existing sanctions; They attempted to dodge sanctions by creating an alternate account for SMNI shortly after the previous ban on their old channel, but said alt account was also banned a few days later, though there exists a few more accounts that appear to be affiliated with Quiboloy and/or SMNI to some degree;  it's only a matter of time before YouTube gets around to cleaning house and purging the accounts in question. There also existed an SMNI News mobile app for Android platforms but it appears to have been also delisted likely in compliance with sanctions.

Surprisingly enough, even TikTok also joined in on the banning spree, as they have terminated Quiboloy's presence on their platform on July 5, 2023, also citing existing US sanctions. As to whether Meta, the holding company that owns Facebook and Instagram, as well as the now-Elon Musk owned Twitter, will follow suit is anyone's guess; the latter might give Quiboloy some leniency because of Musk's committent to Freeze Peach, but government sanctions are government sanctions regardless.

This is following an earlier deplatforming action against the SMNI News Facebook page which was suspended over community guidelines violations, likely due to misinformation allegedly peddled by Quiboloy's media arm.

Quiboloy remains unfazed however, again playing the persecution card and claiming that the channel takedown was an act of "political and religious persecution" from American authorities, never mind the fact that the rash of complaints was sparked by a tweet from a Canadian content creator who otherwise had nothing to do with him and was compelled to make the filing on Quiboloy out of concern for the sex offences the pastor allegedly committed. He along with SMNI later created accounts on the alt-tech video sharing site Rumble which he described as a "cancel culture-free" service, though it is doubtful at best for major telecom providers in the Philippines to subsidise access to such webshites like what they do with mainstream social media platforms, thereby limiting their audience even further.