ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider SMNI's Quiboloy should attend House inquiry on P1.8-B travel fund claim: 'Network is accountable' 

SMNI's Quiboloy should attend House inquiry on P1.8-B travel fund claim: 'Network is accountable' 

Published Nov 29, 2023 09:43 am

At A Glance

  • Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, owner of Shonshine Media Network International (SMNI), should be made to attend the scheduled House panel hearing Thursday, Nov. 30 on the allegations that Speaker Maritn Romualdez spent a whopping P1.8 billion for his travels. 

Quiboloy belies spreading fake news against PacquiaoPastor Apollo Quiboloy

Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, owner of Shonshine Media Network International (SMNI), should be made to attend the scheduled House panel hearing Thursday, Nov. 30 on the allegations that Speaker Maritn Romualdez spent a whopping P1.8 billion for his travels.

Thus, said Deputy Majority Leader Quezon 2nd district Rep. David "Jay-jay" Suarez Wednesday, Nov. 29, or a day after he slammed the SMNI television network for spreading what he called "fake news" about the Speaker.

Suarez was the one who asked the Parañaque City 2nd district Rep. Gus Tambunting-chaired House Committee on Legislative Franchises to look into the P1.8-billion travel fund allegation, which was floated on the SMNI show "Laban Kasama Ang Bayan".

“I think it would be [a] prudent decision of the committee to invite the host. And I even, impose this challenge on them. Name your source," Suarez told House reporters in a chance interview.

Suarez said the broadcasting station’s "owner-franchise holder himself" should also be invited.

“Well, I feel that the network and the host are both accountable. Kasi unang-una, pinalabas po ito sa show nila. Pangalawa, as journalists, responsable sila, dapat bago nila maglabas ng kung anomang news article o news report, it has to be validated (First of all, it was allowed to air on their shoe. Second, as journalists, they are responsible for this, they should do validation before releasing any news article or news report)," Suarez said.

"Kasi ako, may dokumento akong hawak na nagsasabi kung magkano talaga ang ginastos ng House at ng Speaker sa kanilang travel. Dun sa sinasabi niyo P1.8 billion, kaya gusto kong malaman kung saan nanggaling,” he said.

(In my case, I have documents that say exactly how much the House and the Speaker spent on travels. I want to know where this P1.8 million came from.)

Lorraine Badoy and Jeffrey Celiz are the show's hosts.

Suarez underscored that he would like SMNI and its broadcaster to prove their claim with the use of documents.

"Show me your documents. Show me your data. Inform us who your source is and I will compare it to mine and there we will find out what the real truth is with regard to this issue,” he added.

The legislative franchises committee is the one that grants and renews legislative franchises for various entities--including those in the media--so they may be allowed operate.

Related Tags

Apollo Quiboloy SMNI david Jay-jay suarez Martin Romualdez
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.