Claim: Quiboloy says UP and other SUCs are “recruitment agencies” for the CPP-NPA-NDF.
Rating: FALSE
The Facts: Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy, leader of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, accused the University of the Philippines (UP) and other State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) of being “recruitment agencies of the CPP-NPA-NDF during his May 15, 2022, Sunday service. This was aired live during the “Sounds of Worship” program on the SMNI channel and their social media platforms.
Quiboloy also suggested that these schools should close to prevent protests, remove student activists from their “scholarship”, and stop what he referred to as the “vicious cycle” of recruitment inside these schools to join the CPP-NPA-NDF.
Claims of communist recruitment inside schools intensified after announcements of walk-out protests by students and progressive groups following Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s win in the 2022 elections. The protests condemned the Marcos family’s return to power and the electoral irregularities and fraud during the elections.
Students from UP, Far Eastern University, Ateneo de Manila University, University of Sto. Tomas, De La Salle University, Polytechnic University, and other public and private universities and colleges expressed their intent to join the walk-out protests in response to the results of the election.
The NTF-ELCAC condemned the protest in front of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) on May 10, the day after the elections. The protest was mainly conducted by students. The NTF-ELCAC claimed that the protest was done by a “disgruntled and unruly mob” and that the protest is “not an act of decent, rational, and well-meaning individuals”.
In another statement on the same day, the NTF-ELCAC expressed “A Call for Vigilance” in which they called for unity and caution against the CPP-NPA-NDF and their “allied front organizations” after the 2022 elections.
In response to the statements made by the NTF-ELCAC, student leaders asserted that all Filipinos have the Constitutional right to protest as mandated in Article III, Section 4 of the 1987 Constitution. “No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
The COMELEC also welcomed the protests, with Comelec Commissioner George Garcia saying that the COMELEC cannot be “onion-skinned”. He also said, “the public’s condemnation is welcome, we should accept it.”
The UP President’s Advisory Council released a statement addressing the claims of communist infiltration and recruitment in protests following the elections. They called the accusations “baseless and paranoid”, and that these statements “maliciously misrepresent legitimate forms of protests as ‘breeding grounds for terrorist recruitment,’ violate civil liberties and carelessly endanger our students in their democratic exercise of constitutionally protected freedoms.”
Why we fact-checked this: But seriously, who is wanted in the United States for his “alleged participation in a labor trafficking scheme that brought church members to the United States, via fraudulently obtained visas, and forced the members to solicit donations for a bogus charity, donations that actually were used to finance church operations and the lavish lifestyles of its leaders?”
Isn’t that church another insidious form of a recruitment agency?
“Furthermore, it is alleged that females were recruited to work as personal assistants, or “pastorals,” for (xxx) and that victims prepared his meals, cleaned his residences, gave him massages and were required to have sex with (xxx) in what the pastorals called “night duty.”
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