Quiboloy's Choice. Battle of Science & Faith

MANILA - Agence France Presse reports that TV evangelist Pastor Apollo Quiboloy has thrown his support behind former Defense Secretary Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro as candidate for President (03 May, The Sydney Morning Herald, smh.com.au). Quiboloy endorsed Teodoro on Sunday during the annual thanksgiving concert of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ movement that Quiboloy heads. According to the report, the KJC boasts 6 million followers.

Since Gibo is an Ilocano and I'm an Ilocano and I know that there is an Ilocano vote, I've been counting myself. Based on the paper by Carmelita Nuguid Ericta and Florante C Varona presented in an statistics conference at the Sulu Hotel in Quezon City on 12 November 2003, I'm estimating 2.5 million Ilocano voters in the Ilocos Region, 2.5 million Ilocano voters in Central Luzon (mostly from Tarlac, Pangasinan, Zambales, Nueva Ecija), and 1 million Ilocano voters scattered all over the country. That makes 6 million Ilocano voters minimum. If you get 3 out of 6 million, you'll be glad there's the Ilocano vote; if you get 4 out of 6 million, you'll thank all the Ilocanos you will meet down the street. If you don't believe in the Ilocano Vote, you're not Ilocano.

Writing of him, I'm not endorsing Quiboloy or his KJC, but his choice for President happens to be mine too. Gilberto Teodoro is the Chosen One. If Quiboloy is a foolish man, so I must be. Quiboloy admitted that he ran a risk in anointing Teodoro as his candidate, but he was willing to take that risk. "With this proclamation," Quiboloy told Joel B Escovilla, "I may either sink or swim, but I know this decision is the best for our nation" (BusinessWorld Online). If you're not for Gibo, Quiboloy must know something you don't! The KJC is reported to have a voting population of almost 1 million in Davao City alone.

But we have kindred spirits. I learned that during the celebration of Quiboloy's birthday the other week, 25 April, presidential candidates were in attendance: Erap Estrada, Jamby Madrigal, and Richard Gordon (M Cayon, 03 May, businessmirror.com). Quiboloy's choice was therefore the birthday celebrant's snob of the celebrators. Quiboloy's choice was announced in Davao City on Sunday 02 May. He also endorsed Mar Roxas as Vice President.

In reaction, Gibo Teodoro said (in M Cayon's translation), "If this were only an ordinary race, I could have jumped with joy, but we are talking about the lives of millions of Filipinos. I am humbled by the trust and the gravity of the responsibility."

Reginald Velasco of Gibo's party said Quiboloy's blessing was a "major boost" for Teodoro's run, as the KJC is strong in Mindanao, especially in vote-rich Davao Del Sur Province (Andreo Calonzo, GMANews.tv). "Pastor Quiboloy's endorsement is a big thing for our party. His group is a very disciplined congregation, which gives us an army of followers immediately," Velasco said. "Quiboloy, head of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KJC)," reported Calonzo, "endorsed Teodoro's candidacy on Sunday, saying the administration party bet is the best person to lead the country in the next six years." The KJC has 3 million registered voters.

Calonzo also reports that Gibo's party "has recently been plagued with defections that were largely blamed on Teodoro's lackluster performance in various presidential preference surveys." Those defectors believe in those pollstergeists like Mahar Mangahas (Social Weather Stations), Felipe Miranda (Pulse Media) and Ricardo Bernardo (GlobalSource). Gilberto Teodoro doesn't believe in those polls, and I never did (see my "Gibo Apo. Pollstergeists don't scare me, I'm afraid," American Chronicle).

Now I can see that the 2010 presidential election is going to be a Battle of Science and Faith. The pollstergeists insist that their science of prediction is plus-or-minus- two-percent accurate while the religious leaders like Quiboloy don't make any predictions at all. And you know what? The pollstergeists boldly base their predictions on the responses to questions of not more than 2,000 respondents to represent 50,000,000 voters, and they call that "scientific." Of course not! In the first place, it is not verifiable. Scientific means that first you come up with a hypothesis that you create a study to probe into, using a methodology that is acceptable to your peers, then you gather data, analyze the data, interpret and report to the public. If you don't present your materials and methods to the public, I cannot call your study scientific.

I'll stick to the religious leaders who can command bloc voting and who have claimed followings of 6 million - both Quiboloy's KJC and Eduardo Manalo's Iglesia ni Cristo (InC). There has been no endorsement from the InC; even if it has 6 million members and it endorses a candidate other than Gibo, I will still bet on Gibo. You know why? Quiboloy's Choice has thrown a monkey wrench on the political machinery of all the other presidential candidates who had sought his endorsement: Villar, Aquino, Madrigal, Gordon, Estrada, and Perlas. Remember, Mindanao is vote-rich, and a vote of confidence like Quiboloy's, no matter his religious persuasion, is bound to have a ripple-effect immediately on the voting waters of that southern island of the Philippines, not to mention the whole country. Not InC. If you get the InC vote, that's all you get.

According to another report, actually as early as 25 April, during his birthday celebration, Quiboloy had already hinted his personal choice when he said he would endorse someone who was "magaling at matalino" (my translation: "good and talented"), which jibes with Gibo Teodoro's "Galing at Talino" campaign (Edith Regalado, 03 May, Philippine Star, philstar.com). Quiboloy had considered everyone: Gibo, Manuel Villar, Eddie Villanueva and Nicanor Perlas also attended Quiboloy's birthday party. Only Noynoy Aquino was absent and sent his regrets.

Regalado also reports that Quiboloy's congregation owns the Sonshine Media Network Services with channels in different continents in the world. I must congratulate Quiboloy for being media savvy - he knows the power of TV over radio and print in instant communication. If you are a fool, the TV viewer knows instantly.

Gibo communicates to the street people in straight language, frank and honest, a language I understand - not to mention that he is an Ilocano, and so am I. According to Regalado, Gibo's spokesman, Michael Toledo said Gibo goes straight to the issue at hand, "disdaining mudslinging which has been the campaign trend of late among certain candidates in this year's balloting."

The candidates' preference for mudslinging suggests to me that they don't want the people to know that they are as clear as mud about what they can do for the country. Villar, Aquino, Estrada et al: Those candidates are focused on the signs and symptoms of the illnesses of the country (like corruption) and not on the cures (like Christian values). That's why they hate the sin and the sinner. If theirs is a scientific approach, I prefer the religious approach. Hate the sin, not the sinner. We need a "healing leader," said Quiboloy (Jade C Zaldivar, 03 May, Sun Star Davao):

This country needs healing from deep political wounds. The task is beyond giving palliative solutions to the disease that collectively ails us. Fake and shallow attempts to reconciliation are tantamount to putting band aids upon old sores, cancerous flesh.

We will never rise up if we continue to pull at each other. And we need a leader with a character strong enough to face the challenge of healing past wounds, of uniting our people. Gilbert Teodoro is that kind of a leader.

Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro stands to represent the face of the new Philippines. He is our country's modern leader, a man of supple intelligence, of shrewd discernment, of positive outlook in life. He is a strong, young leader that embodies the quality of a True Filipino we have been longing to have.

That's a combined scientific and religious assessment, an intelligent one, I must say. So, I have no choice but Quiboloy's Choice.