Kalookan Bishop David, elected 23rd CBCP President
MANILA – Kalookan Bishop Pablo Virgilio S. David was elected 23rd President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines in its virtual plenary assembly today.
According to the CBCPNews, Bishop David, 62 years old, was elected on the first of the two-day plenary assembly. He has been serving CBCP vice president since 2017 and was at a time, officer-in-charge when CBCP President and Davao Archbishop Romulo G. Valles went on sick leave.
A priest since 1983 from the Archdiocese of San Fernando in Pampanga and has made a name as one of the country’s leading Bible scholars. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of the same ecclesial province in 2006. He was auxiliary bishop for 14 years before his appointment to the Diocese of Kalookan in January 2016.
He also served as Chairman of the Episcopal Commission on Biblical Apostolate and became one of five Filipino bishop delegates to the Synod of Bishops on the World of God in the Vatican in 2008.
The Ateneo de Manila University conferred its “Bukas Palad Award” on Bishop David for his service to the poor and “for his courage in speaking out against the evil of injustice and violence” in 2019.
Pasig Bishop Mylo Hubert C. Vergara was elected CBCP Vice President. He was ordained priest in 1990. He also served as President of the Archdiocese of Manila-run Radyo Veritas prior to his appointment as Bishop of San Jose de Nueva Ecija in 2005. He was named Bishop of Pasig in 2011.
Bishop Vergara, now 58 years old, sites as Member of the CBCP Permanent Council. He was once chair of the Episcopal Commission on Social Communications.
They will assume their positions on December 1,2021. The elected officials have a two-year tenure in office or a total of four to include their second term. The Conference meets in plenary session twice yearly, every January and July, and its different programs are implemented by difference commissions and committees.
“When the plenary assembly is not in session, the Permanent Council acts for and on behalf of the entire organization,” the CBCPNews concluded. (Melo M. Acuña)
Newly-elected CBCP President Kalookan Bishop Pablo Virgilio S. David (left) and CBCP Vice President and Pasig Bishop Mylo Hubert C. Vergara (right). (Photos/Melo M. Acuna and Diocese of Pasig website)
Comments