President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday said he believes that pastor Apollo Quiboloy stopped the earthquake in Mindanao by simply telling it to stop.
At the inauguration of a new hotel in Davao City, Duterte defended his longtime friend, saying the tremor indeed stopped when Quiboloy ordered it to.
“I believe in Pastor Quiboloy,” the President said.
“When he said stop, eh kung nag-stop. What’s the trouble?” he added.
Duterte said he hoped he could also possess the pastor’s “power” so he could order corrupt government officials to stop.
“If only I can have the power doon sa mga kurakot to stop,” he noted.
The founder and leader of the religious group, the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, The Name Above Every Name, Inc. earlier claimed that he stopped one of the deadly quakes in Mindanao because he said so.
Quiboloy said people should be thankful to him.
“Sabi ko, ‘Lindol, huminto ka.’ Huminto,” he said in the October 30 episode of Give Us This Day, a weekly TV show produced by the pastor’s religious group.
“Pasalamat kayo sa akin kasi kung hindi ko pina-stop ‘yun, marami kayong magigiba diyan, mamamatay kayo,” he added.
Netizens react
The pastor later became a subject of jokes and memes online.
https://twitter.com/Ronibelleeee/status/1197737526749872128
When Duterte believes that Quiboloy stopped the Mindanao earthquake, I lost about 98.2% of my brain cells.
— Blushing Marceline ˵･‿･˵ (@Minamirobu) November 23, 2019
https://twitter.com/JBelimac/status/1198116213554962433
https://twitter.com/SNNPhilippines/status/1198212342544138241
Duterte believes Pastor Quiboloy stopped Mindanao quake. pic.twitter.com/XTgpGaQfdp
— #SyLicoNgaAko (@SyLicoNgaAko) November 22, 2019
Can't wait for Duterte to ask Quiboloy to stop the SEA Games disaster
— Anton Lean (@antonlean_) November 24, 2019
https://twitter.com/annesessary/status/1198416187404632064
Even It’s Showtime host Vice Ganda made Quiboloy the subject of jokes on the noontime variety show on November 5.
Doing his usual banter with co-host Jhong Hilario in the show’s “Tawag ng Tanghalan” segment, Vice Ganda quipped that Quiboloy would probably be the greatest enemy of Cardo Dalisay, the character portrayed by Coco Martin in the top-rating ABS-CBN TV series, FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano.
“Alam mo kung sino ang magiging pinakamatinding kalaban ni Cardo? Naku, kabahan na si Cardo… Feeling ko si Quiboloy, ‘yung nagpahinto ng lindol,” the comedian said, drawing laughter from the audience.
“Si Quiboloy lang ang magpapahinto ng ‘Probinsyano.’ Abangan niyo ‘yan,” he added.
Vice went on to challenge the pastor to put an end to Ang Probinsyano and to the monstrous traffic on EDSA.
“Hinahamon kita, Quiboloy. Ipahinto mo na ‘Ang Probinsyano.’ Napahinto mo pala ang lindol eh. Napakayabang niyo pala eh,” he said.
“Sabi niya raw, stop. Sige nga, punta ka ng gitna ng EDSA, stop mo ‘yung traffic doon,” he added.
Vice has earned the ire of radio broadcaster Mike Abe who slammed him for his remarks against the pastor.
Quiboloy, on the other hand, answered the comedian’s dare with sarcasm.
In his Spotlight program on SMNI, the pastor said EDSA traffic could not be stopped because it’s already not moving.
He instead lectured the comedian that he should have said to make the traffic flow again.
“Ipa-stop ko daw ang traffic sa EDSA eh mag-isip ka muna bago ka magsalita. Paano kung nai-stop ang naka-stop na. Hindi na kumikilos. Siguro ang dapat mong sinabi, flow of traffic, make it faster. Tuloy, traffic. Tuloy-tuloy wag hihinto,” Quiboloy said.
For the Ang Probinsyano dare, the pastor asked Vice Ganda in how many months would he want it to end and maybe the network won’t be operating also because of its pending franchise renewal woes.
“Kailan mo ba gusto mapa-stop ang Probinsyano? Isang buwan, dalawang buwan, tatlong buwan, apat na buwan? Ikaw pili ka? Baka sa apat na buwan hindi lang ‘yung Probinsiyano ang ma-stop. Baka pati yung network mo stop na ‘yan,” Quiboloy noted.
As a decades-long friend, Quiboloy has maintained and developed close ties with Duterte, who has repeatedly launched verbal attacks against ABS-CBN due to its alleged slanted reporting.
