After 3 years, Caloocan finally has a bishop

BISHOP Pablo Virgilio David was formally installed Saturday as the new bishop of the Diocese of Caloocan at the San Roque Cathedral, thus officially ending a three-year “sede vacante” in the episcopal territory.

The Diocese of Caloocan has been without a bishop since January 2013 after the resignation of Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez due to health reasons.

For three years, the diocese was administered by Antipolo Auxiliary Bishop Francisco De Leon.

David, a known Bible scholar, was appointed by Pope Francis as the new bishop of the diocese last Oct. 14. He was installed Saturday by Papal Nuncio to the Philippines Archbishop Guiseppe Pinto.

“My heart is overflowing with gratitude to the Lord for entrusting this Diocese to my humble pastoral care and for giving me this new opportunity of expressing my love for Him by serving His people,”  David, formerly an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of San Fernando in Pampanga, said during the homily.

Affectionately called Ambo, David was born on March 2, 1959, in Betis, Guagua, Pampanga.

He was ordained a priest on March 12, 1983. On May 27, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI made him Auxiliary Bishop of San Fernando.

David finished his college seminary formation at the San Jose Seminary, Ateneo de Manila University, with a Bachelor of Arts in Pre-Divinity degree.

He took his Master of Arts degree in Theology at the Loyola School of Theology (LST), also at the Ateneo, and earned his Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium in 1988.

In 1989, he took up his Doctorate in Sacred Theology at the same university.

From 2007 to 2013, David was a member of the Permanent Council of the CBCP.