The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines on Saturday elected Archbishop Gilbert Garcera of Lipa as its next president.
The election took place on the first day of the bishops’ 130th plenary assembly in Anda, Bohol.
Garcera, 66, currently serves on the CBCP Permanent Council as regional representative for Southeast Luzon. He will succeed Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan, who was elected to the post in July 2021.
David is completing his second and final term as president in November.
Garcera will lead the bishops’ collegial body for the next two years. CBCP officials serve two-year terms and may be reelected once, for a maximum of four years.
He has been archbishop of Lipa, home to more than 3.3 million Catholics, since 2017.
Garcera previously chaired the CBCP Commission on Mission and Commission on Family and Life.
Before becoming a bishop, he also served as assistant secretary general of the CBCP, executive secretary of the Episcopal Commission on Mission, and national director of the Pontifical Mission Society.
Garcera was ordained priest for the Archdiocese of Caceres in 1983. In 2007, he was appointed bishop of Daet, a role he served until he was transferred to the Lipa archdiocese.
Within the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC), he served as chairman of the Office on Laity and Family and as director of its yearly Synodal Leadership for Asian Bishops Seminar.
In 2014, he was one of three Philippine bishops who served as delegates to the Synod on the Family at the Vatican.
Also elected was Archbishop Julius Tonel of Zamboanga, who will serve as vice president.
The 68-year-old will replace Bishop Mylo Hubert Vergara of Pasig, whose second and final term also ends in November.
Tonel was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Davao in 1980 and was appointed bishop of Ipil in 2007. In 2023, he became archbishop of Zamboanga.
He previously served as chairman of the CBCP Commission on Liturgy and currently heads the CBCP Committee on Bishops’ Concerns.
Garcera, Tonel and other members of the Permanent Council will officially assume their posts on Dec. 1, 2025.
