Quiboloy blessing seen to breathe new life to Gibo campaign

The endorsement of religious leader Apollo Quiboloy will boost the chances of administration presidential bet Gilberto Teodoro Jr. of winning votes especially in Mindanao, an official of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD party said Monday. Lakas-Kampi-CMD deputy secretary-general Reginald Velasco said Quiboloy’s blessing was a “major boost" for Teodoro’s candidacy, noting the religious leader's strong following in Mindanao particularly in the vote-rich province of Davao del Sur. “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 in a phone interview with GMANews.TV on Monday night. Quiboloy, head of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KJC), endorsed Teodoro’s candidacy on Sunday, saying the administration party bet is the best person to lead the country in the next six years.

KJC boasts of six million followers from all over the world, and has an estimated three million registered voters for the upcoming polls, according to a statement from the religious group. Quiboloy’s endorsement would reinforce the support of local candidates in Mindanao to ensure victory in the southern Philippine island, Velasco said. “Aside from our local machinery and citizen volunteers, votes from Pastor Quiboloy’s group will be a very important factor to ensure that Secretary Teodoro will win in Mindanao and in the whole country," he said. Lakas-Kampi-CMD has recently been plagued with defections that were largely blamed on Teodoro’s lackluster performance in various presidential preference surveys. According to Commission on Elections (Comelec) data, Mindanao, the second largest island in the country, has about 10 million voters in the upcoming polls. The sixth vote-richest province with over 1.4 million votes, Davao del Sur, is located in this southern Philippine island. During the 2004 presidential elections, then administration party bet Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was accused of rigging poll results in Mindanao to her favor, especially in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Malacañang has repeatedly denied the allegation. —KBK, GMANews.TV