ILOILO City – The Archdiocese of Jaro will formally install its 14th archbishop, Midyphill Billones, on April 2 during a Mass at the Jaro Metropolitan Cathedral.
Billones, who has served as auxiliary bishop of Cebu since 2019, will succeed Archbishop Jose Lazo, who retired at 76.
Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Lazo on Feb. 2 – coinciding with the Feast of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria — and appointed Billones as successor.
A day before Billiones’ installation, the archdiocese will also celebrate Lazo’s 50th anniversary of priestly ordination with a Mass at the cathedral.
Ordained as a priest for the Diocese of San Jose de Antique in 1975, Lazo became bishop of Kalibo in 2003 before transferring to Jaro in 2018.
Billones, fondly known as “Bishop Dodong”, hails from Panay, Capiz. He will oversee the archdiocese, which includes Iloilo province, Iloilo City, and Guimaras.
Hours before the announcement of his new appointment, Billones led a Solemn Pontifical Mass and the blessing of candles at the Jaro Metropolitan Cathedral to the mark the Solemnity of Our Lady of Candles, the patroness of Jaro and Western Visayas.
Billones served the Archdiocese of Jaro in various roles, including as personal secretary to Archbishop Alberto Piamonte and his successor, Archbishop Angel Lagdameo.
He earned a Doctorate in Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 2011. He completed his Philosophy studies at St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary in Iloilo City and his Theology studies at Loyola School of Theology in Quezon City, where he also obtained a master’s degree in Theology.
In July 2019, Billones was appointed auxiliary bishop of Cebu and was ordained to the episcopate on August 27, 2019, at the Jaro Cathedral. (Philippine News Agency)/PN
