MANILA (UCAN): The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines [CBCP] elected Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kaloocan as its new president on July 8, the first day of the CBCP’s two-day plenary, which was held online because of Covid-19 coronavirus restrictions.
The 62-year-old Bishop David, was the conference’s vice president for the last four years, he succeeds Archbishop Romulo G. Valles of Davao.
“It is with great joy that our shepherd in the Diocese of Kalookan has been elected the new president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines,” the Diocese of Kalookan said in a Facebook post.
Bishop David attended Jesuit-run San Jose Seminary and Ateneo de Manila University, where he did his theological studies with the prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle.
The bishop also holds a doctorate in theology from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium.
He is well known as a staunch critic of the war on drugs of Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte. In 2017, he likened the thousands of victims to “slaughtered sheep.” Duterte responded to the bishop’s criticisms by calling him a “son of a whore.”
The bishop was also among several priests accused of sedition after videos surfaced online accusing Duterte’s family of being involved in illegal drug operations.
