The House of Representatives is taking the lead in punishing Swara Sug Media Corp., also known as the Sonshine Media Network, Inc., one of the terrestrial assets of self-described Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, who calls himself the “appointed son of god” and the “owner of the universe.”
He also happens to be the leader of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KJOC) and a buddy of former president Rodrigo Duterte, who admitted receiving a sports utility vehicle and residential lots in Davao City from the generous, wealthy preacher. Quiboloy also owns helicopters and jets to make it easy for him to visit his enormous “global” estate, which may be even bigger than what the devil owned and tried to bribe Jesus Christ with.
The relationship of Quiboloy and Duterte is a classic case of the “sacred” and profane being glued by cash. When Quiboloy needed to kick out “squatting Lumads” in his New Jerusalem, Duterte became his indispensable ally. When Duterte needed to campaign for the presidency, Quiboloy’s jet and choppers were his to use. It is a mutually-beneficial “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” arrangement. SMNI became the Duterte propaganda ministry in the 2016 presidential campaign and the Quiboloy network secured a 25-year legislative franchise under Republic Act 11422 in August 2019. When ABS-CBN was shuttered under Duterte’s behest, SMNI, a radio network and Manny Villar partook of the carcass and divvied up frequencies among themselves.
Talk about Rodrigo Duterte being the real owner of SMNI has gained purchase after 2016, owing to suspicions that the then newly-minted president was interested in established his own political dynasty at the national level and prove to other dynasties that rubes have as much claim to political domination than the Manila “imperialists.” Note that Quiboloy has already denied that he owns SMNI and pointed top another fellow as the real deal at his cult. As the FBI bears down his neck, Quiboloy tries to essay the role of the poor boy from Lubao, where his family actually came from.
As Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio engaged in internecine political warfare with Speaker Martin Romualdez, which started when Sara ignored Martin once and intensified when Sara was exposed to have spent P125-million from the Contingent Fund of the Office of the President (OP) and another P96.424 million in the 11 dying days of 2022, the ground was set for SMNI to come to the succor of Sara. Funds from the OP are auditable and all those who abetted Sara’s caper are liable.
Aside from Rodrigo Duterte’s SMNI show, Sara also counted on the old reliables Lorraine Badoy Partosa and Jeffrey “Ka Eric” Celiz to batter Romualdez and his faction. Badoy and Celiz are part of the Duterte-organized National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and are viscerally and violently opposed to anyone who espouses ideas different from those articulated by the Dutertes, whatever they may be. Thus, the claim by Rodrigo Duterte that Romualdez gad deeper ties with the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army (NPA) in his SMNI show. He also yammered about a death threat on ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro, who found all the documents about Sara’s financial caper from the OP, the Office of the Executive Secretary (OES), the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Commission on Audit (COA.)
Then the Celiz-Badoy duet came a-singin’ about the purported P1.8-billion spent by Romualdez and his cohorts for foreign travels, which Celiz said was disclosed by a “Senate source.” This further raised the temperature and reduced it to a bar brawl. Celiz has been exposed for his litany of lies, from the lie about his being once a UP student and for being a member of the NPA National Operations Command (NOC) even before it was organized.
Celiz and Badoy were eventually detained by the Lower House for refusing to answer the questions posed by lawmakers and for persisting in their lies while hiding behind the veil of the Sotto Law. This pair of propagandists even pretended they were journalists, failing to distinguish the difference between reporters and commentators. Journalists write news; commentators dish out opinions.