Lipa Archbishop Garcera is new CBCP president

Metro Manila, Philippines - Catholic bishops elected Lipa Archbishop Gilbert Garcera as the new president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Saturday, July 5.

In a news release, the CBCP said the election happened on the first day of the bishops’ 130th plenary assembly in Anda, Bohol.

Garcera will succeed Kalookan Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, whose second term will end in November. CBCP officials may be re-elected once, and serve two terms for a maximum of four years.

The new CBCP president has been the archbishop of Lipa, Batangas since 2017.

He was ordained priest for the Archdiocese of Caceres in 1983 and was appointed bishop of Daet, Camarines Norte in 2007.

According to the CBCP, Garcera was one of the three Philippine bishops who served as delegates to the Synod on the Family at the Vatican in 2014.

Garcera, together with other newly-elected officials, will officially assume their post on Dec.1, 2025.