Billones to return to Jaro as its new archbishop
Cebu Auxiliary Bishop Midyphil Billones | Photo from the Archdiocese of Cebu
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Cebu Auxiliary Bishop Midyphil Billones is set to return to his hometown in Jaro, Iloilo as the Vatican assigned him to lead the Roman Catholic Church there.
The Archdiocese of Cebu on Sunday, Feb. 2, announced that Billones has been appointed by Pope Francis to lead the Metropolitan Archbishop of Jaro as its incoming archbishop.
“He succeeds Archbishop Jose Romeo Lazo, who recently retired after nearly seven years of dedicated service to the archdiocese,” the Archdiocese wrote in a statement on social media.
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Billones’ new assignment was announced in a Vatican bulletin during the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord on Sunday, they added.
This development also came just weeks after the Pope reassigned another Auxiliary Bishop from Cebu, Ruben Labajo.
It can be recalled that Labajo was installed as the first bishop for the newly created Diocese of Prosperidad in Agusan del Sur.
With Labajo in Agusan del Sur, and Billones to return to Jaro, this meant that Archbishop Jose Palma would no longer have any assistant bishops, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) reported.
Billones is a native of Panay town in Capiz, based on a database of priests from UCAnews.
He earned a Philosophy degree from St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary in Iloilo City and a doctorate in Theology from the Loyola School of Theology at Ateneo de Manila University.
Ordained in October 1995, Billones spent two years as parochial vicar of Jaro Metropolitan Cathedral before serving as personal secretary to the late Archbishop Jover Piamonte and Archbishop Emeritus Angel Lagdameo.
He was the rector of St. Joseph Regional Seminary of Jaro when Pope Francis appointed him auxiliary bishop for Cebu in July 2019. He was ordained to episcopate on Aug. 27, 2019, at the Jaro Cathedral.
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