The evangelist Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy, last week endorsed Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, the President’s daughter, as God’s choice to replace her father when his term ends in 2022.
On his streaming video program Give Us This Day, the President’s friend and campaign benefactor said the mayor, like her father, “is chosen for that also” as the presidency is not a position that anyone can aspire for but a God-given gift.
“It is God who determines it, you don’t aspire for it. In our experiences, those who aspire for it, where are they now? But for those people who don’t aspire for it, God gave it to them,” he said.
Carpio, a guest on the pastor’s program, said she would ask God for wisdom to make the right decision.
Quiboloy, who is a close friend of the President, said he would pray to help Carpio prepare in the coming days, claiming that God had already shown him a glimpse of what is about to happen and that there would be “drastic changes” happening in her life in the coming years.
Quiboloy said not everyone aspiring for the country’s highest position could ascend to the presidency because “I believe it is God who appoints.”
“Maybe vice president, senator, you can aspire for that. But the presidency, I believe it is God who appoints,” he said.
The pastor’s declaration came as a surprise to us, assuming as we did that in a democracy, it is the people who choose their leaders, not some deity that speaks to us through evangelists. Perhaps the good pastor was simply confused by the Latin phrase Vox Populi, Vox Dei—the voice of the people is the voice of God—and got the order wrong.
President Rodrigo Duterte, who has viciously attacked the Catholic Church, apparently finds solace in his friend’s ministry, and says the pastor’s TV show is now his favored medium for communicating his thoughts and ideas.
"There’s one thing that you may have noticed, Pastor, I do not give interviews using other facilities private or not even the government-owned TV, seldom if at all," he said during one interview on Quiboloy’s program.
"I like it here because God is so near and I tend to control my mouth and out of respect to you and the public,” he added, noting that he aimed to be on the program more often. Certainly we welcome Quiboloy’s moderating influence on Mr. Duterte’s infamous potty mouth.
As for the pastor’s claim that he is privy to the will of God on who can best lead the country, we presume he is speaking to his flock and not to the rest of us. It will be up to them to accept or reject their leader’s words. But so long as everybody is clear that the rest of us enjoy the freedom to agree or disagree with what is being said—just as Quiboloy enjoys the freedom to express himself—democracy should remain alive and well.