New CBCP President, Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles Vows to be Fair With President Duterte, LP Reacts

Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles is now the new president of the CBCP (Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines), after he won the elections at the Pope Pius XII Catholic Center in Paco, Manila this Saturday, July 8. In his short statement, the new CBCP president said he will be fair to President Rodrigo Duterte and to all Filipinos.



As reported at CBCP News, Archbishop Valles replaced Lingayen, Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, who has finished his second and final term. He is the current CBCP vice president, whom in tradition becomes the next CBCP president. Based on CBCP rules, CBCP officers have a 2-year term, and can ran again to serve another 2 years.

CBCP President Romulo Valles used to be the archbishop of Zamboanga before he was appointed in Davao in 2012. He is currently rector of the St. Francis Xavier Regional Major Seminary, and is said to be close with the Duterte family. Last March, he baptized President Duterte's youngest grandson Marko Digong Carpio, nicknamed Stonefish.

Shortly after the CBCP elections, presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella congratulated all the newly elected CBCP officers, particularly Archbishop Valles. He said that the new church leader has been a priest in Mindanao for a long time, and is therefore familiar with its issues, just like President Duterte who served as Davao City mayor for nearly 20 years.

"His familiarity with Davao and Mindanao would augur well for the country as we promote interfaith dialogue and intercultural understanding as part of our efforts to rebuild Marawi," Abella said in press briefing in Malacañang, calling the winning of Archbishop Valles as the new CBCP president as "a new day of peace for a multi-cultural Philippines."

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In a short statement, Archbishop Romulo Valles said he will continue the objectives of the Catholic Church, that is, to spread the Christain values across the nation. "With the current issues in the society, rest assured that I will remain balance with the current government, and will support all its actions as long as ethics and morality are not at stake." He said.



On the other hand, the Liberal Party (LP) also congratulated Archbishop Valles for being elected as the new CBCP president. However, the opposition has a reminder to him. "We welcome the change in the CBCP's leadership. But we also hope that the new officers will continue reminding President Duterte the value of human rights." It said in a statement.

Contributed by Renato Pasayao