All the president’s women

Public confessions dished out right in the halls of Congress as testimonies made under oath – even from self-proclaimed whistleblowers brought out of their jail cells – have been hogging the headlines. Adding to these scandalous revelations was information culled from unfiltered sources in media interviews.

These whistleblowers suddenly found themselves no longer fearful or timid to come out with what they believe was the truth. Or did they have an epiphany when they suddenly realized what they failed to understand in the past and have become conscious of only now, or something that they finally realized is the right thing to do. Or it is just an after-thought to tell all?

While these sworn testimonies at the congressional hearings were not exactly the gospel truth, it is more difficult to discern the “he said, she said” stories being peddled openly. For us in media, it becomes doubly hard work to do fact checking. It is not just for the sake of fairness and balance but for accuracy and the truth to prevail.

Via zoom interview last week over dzRH radio, a former member of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) echoed accusations against KOJC leader Pastor Apollo Quiboloy. A certain Arlene Stone, who claimed to be speaking in behalf of other former KOJC members now residing in the United States, volunteered the “information” that Quiboloy allegedly had “gifted women” to former president Rodrigo Duterte and other officials.

“Based on my information, (some members of the pastoral) were being offered to (persons) very close to Quiboloy, like for example president Duterte. If he (Duterte) likes one of the members of the pastoral, Quiboloy would grant it,” Stone declared. As a matter of fact, she further claimed, one of those purportedly offered to Mr. Duterte is still at the KOJC compound in Davao City, from where it took two weeks for our police authorities to flush out Quiboloy from hiding.

Quiboloy has been charged with sexual assault and human trafficking cases here in our country and in the US as well, not to mention the string of other criminal charges filed against him. Moreover, there are ongoing parallel congressional “inquiries in aid of legislation” that