Philippines Bishops' Conference elects new President

(CBCPNews) Archbishop Romulo Valles of Davao has been elected as the new president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

Valles, current CBCP vice president, will succeed Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, who finished his second and final term.

At 66, Valles will be the 20th head of the 72-year old collegial body of bishops.

The archbishop will lead the 83 active, 5 diocesan administrators and 43 honorary members of the CBCP from 86 ecclesiastical jurisdictions.

Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalooan was also elected CBCP vice president in an election held at the Pope Pius XII Catholic Center in Paco, Manila on Saturday.

CBCP officials have a two-year tenure in office, or a total of four to include the second term.

If tradition is to be followed, incumbent officials are reelected for their second and last term.

Ordained a priest in 1976, Valles was appointed as bishop of Kidapawan in 1997. In 2006, he was named archbishop of Zamboanga until 2012 when he was transferred to Davao archdiocese.

David, a known Bible scholar, has been serving the Kalookan diocese only since January 2016.

He was ordained a priest in March 1983. In 2006, he was appointed auxiliary bishop of San Fernando in Pampanga, a post he held for 10 years.

The bishops also elected members of the CBCP Permanent Council.

The regional representatives for Luzon are Archbishop Marlo Peralta of Nueva Segovia, Bishops Ruperto Santos of Balanga, Reynaldo Evangelista of Imus, Victor Ocampo of Gumaca and Jose Rojas of Libanan.

For Visayas, the representatives are Archbishop Jose Advincula of Capiz and Isabelo Abarquez of Calbayog.

Representatives for Mindanao include Archbishops Romulo dela Cruz of Zamboanga and Martin Jumoad of Ozamiz.

The assembly also reelected Palo Archbishop John Du as CBCP treasurer and Fr. Marvin Mejia as secretary general.

According to CBCP statues, the new officers will formally assume their posts on December 1, 2017.