Manila, Philippines - Name the religious leaders whose political support are being courted by this year’s presidential aspirants, and they are likely to be or have been President Arroyo’s “spiritual adviser.”
These advisers come from religious groups of various persuasions, but they have one thing in common—they either claim to have millions of members that supposedly mean block votes for candidates that the leaders will endorse, or have connections in sectors that are definitely beyond the realm of religion.
By the sheer number of these spiritual advisers—seven—the President practically has one for every year she’s been in Malacañang. The case, in a way, is similar to how the Chief Executive has frequently changed or military commanders and some department secretaries.
Definitely, the counsel of these presidential advisers has touched not just the concerns of the soul, but also the affairs of the government.
Here is a list of those who have prayed with—or for—Arroyo:
Pastor Apollo Quiboloy
Quiboloy heads the group Kingdom of Jesus Christ, the Name Above Every Name, which claims to have 6 million followers. His parents are natives of Lubao, Pampanga, just the President’s father, the late President Diosdado Macapagal.
The pastor said that he decided to support Arroyo in the 2004 presidential elections after he had a vision of Arroyo’s face gracing the cover of a magazine.
Now, presidential contenders—such as deposed president Joseph Estrada, senators Manuel Villar Jr., Benigno Aquino III, and administration candidate Gilbert Teodoro Jr.—are trying to secure the religious leader’s endorsement. They have trooped since last year to Mount Apo, where the Kingdom of Jesus Christ’s compound is located.
Villar and Aquino were absent, however in a presidential forum that Quiboloy organized in early March. Arroyo’s lawyer, Romulo Macalintal, served as the forum’s moderator.
Quiboloy recently made the headlines, though, for the wrong reasons. The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting said that his name appeared in the list of double or dead registrants, which could mean that he is a flying voter.
The pastor maintained that he only registered once in Barangay Tamayong, Calinaw, Davao City.
Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal
Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada, the whistleblower on the government’s botched $300-million broadband deal with a Chinese firm, has slammed the Archdiocese of Cebu as the “Archdiocese of Malacañang.”
Lozada said this following an alleged order from Vidal to prohibit priests from holding a mass for the latter. Vidal denied this, although he has been hardly critical of the Arroyo administration.
Vidal did not denounce Arroyo’s run for Congress in 2010. He said that if Arroyo wants to share her “expertise” again in governance, then she should go ahead and do so. During calls for charter change in 2006, Vidal thumbed down invitations to join street protests and instead called for “discussions.”
But the Cebu archbishop has not been critical either of Arroyo’s predecessor, during those times when the likes of Jun Lozada and his supporters from Manila’s elite were denouncing President Joseph Estrada for alleged corruption.
Vidal wrote Arroyo to pardon Estrada, who was convicted of plunder in 2007. Vidal is also part of Estrada’s circle of allies when he was still in power. Arroyo granted Estrada executive clemency.
Vidal also endorsed then court administrator Presbitero Velasco for Supreme Court justice in 2006. Velasco was eventually appointed.
Arroyo recently appointed Vidal as co-chair of the reconstruction body that will oversee the rehabilitation of the areas wrecked by tropical storms Ondoy and Pepeng.
Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales
Rosales was vocal in his support of charter change. While the President’s critics say that amending the Constitution is a way of perpetuating Arroyo in power, Rosales says it the amendments are worth studying as long as the changes are not “done in haste.”
In 2005, Rosales agreed with the dispersal of a rally joined by former Vice President Teofisto Guingona. The rally was held at the height the “Hello, Garci” scandal, where Arroyo allegedly talked to poll commissioner Virgilio Garcillano during the 2004 election to secure her votes in Mindanao.
When asked why he did not join protests against Arroyo, Rosales reportedly said that Arroyo is not the only corrupt president in the history of the Philippines. He said, though, that “the offended cannot simply be consoled by expressions of regret,” after Arroyo gave her “I am sorry” speech in the wake of the controversy.
Rosales also asked Arroyo to tell the truth in her 2009 State of the Nation Address. He said that Arroyo should be honest about her misgivings as a president.
El Shaddai founder Mike Velarde
Velarde heads the El Shaddai Movement, which claims to have over 3 million members. The group, along with the sect Iglesia ni Cristo, endorsed Arroyo in the 2004 presidential elections.
Velarde has vowed to support Arroyo until she steps down this year. It remains to be seen, however, if Velarde will also back Teodoro, the presidential candidate of Arroyo’s political party Lakas-Kampi-CMD. The El Shaddai founder has been leaning toward Villar.
Velarde has not always seen eye-to-eye with Arroyo on some issues, however. He has balked at plans to amend the 1987 Constitution through people’s initiative and also asked Arroyo to admit the fact that the administration has lost big time in the senatorial elections in 2007.
Tuguegarao Archbishop Diosdado Talamayan, Bishop Ephraim Perez, and Jesuit priest Romeo Intengan
Talamayan and Intengan have reportedly lobbied for people who want to be appointed to different government posts.
Newsbreak reported in January that Talamayan put in a good word for regional trial court judge Leonardo Leonida, whose appointment as poll commissioner in 2008 was bypassed by the Commission on Appointments.
Talamayan also reportedly pushed for the appointment of Court of Appeals Justice Jose Mendoza to the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, Intengan, is founder of the Philippine Democratic Socialist Party, to which Defense Secretary and long-time presidential adviser on national security Norberto Gonzales belongs.
Intengan endorsed then Taguig Rep. Dante Tinga to the high court. In her book Shadow of Doubt: Probing the Supreme Court, Newsbreak editor in chief Marites Vitug wrote that the Jesuit priest was instrumental to Tinga’s appointment, as the latter lacked supporters from the Palace.
Meanwhile, Perez was Estrada’s former spiritual adviser. Originally a supporter of Sen. Panfilo Lacson in the 2004 presidential elections, he defected to the Arroyo camp and led the group Maluwalhating Pilipinas composed of around 20,000 bishops and laity to gather votes for Arroyo.