Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David was named as the new president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Thursday.
David is also a staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war, prompting the President to openly castigate him for supposedly using the pulpit to attack the administration.
David was elected during the first of the two-day online plenary assembly of the bishops, the CBCP news site reported.
David, 62, served as CBCP vice president since December 2017, working alongside CBCP outgoing president Archbishop Romulo Valles.
Known as one of the country’s leading Bible scholars, David was ordained as a priest for the Archdiocese of San Fernando in 1983.
In 2006, he was appointed auxiliary bishop of the same archdiocese where he had served for around 14 years. He was transferred to the Caloocan diocese in January 2016.
David previously chaired the CBCP’s Episcopal Commission on Biblical Apostolate.
Meanwhile, Pasig Bishop Mylo Hubert Vergara was elected CBCP vice president.
Ordained as priest in 1990, Vergara is currently a member of the CBCP Permanent Council. He formerly chaired the Episcopal Commission on Social Communications.
David and Vergara will begin their terms on December 1, 2021.
CBCP officials have two-year tenure in office or a total of four to include the second term.