David named auxiliary bishop of San Fernando

Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Fr. Pablo Virgilio Siongco David as the auxiliary bishop of San Fernando, Pampanga, Archbishop Fernando Filoni, the new Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, announced the other day.

David, 47, was born in Betis, Guagua, Pampanga. He comes from a family of 12 children — six boys and six girls. All of his siblings are professionals.

David took his elementary and high school education in Pampanga, and finished college at the Ateneo de Manila University.

He entered the San Jose Major Seminary in Loyola Heights, Quezon City in 1974, and was ordained a priest at the age of 24 by Archbishop Oscar Cruz.

He earned his M.A. in Theology at the Loyola School of Theology and his Licentiate and Doctorate in Sacred Theology at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. He went on for special studies in Scripture at the Ecole Biblique et Archeologique Francaise de Jerusalem.

At the Mother of Good Counsel Seminary in San Fernando, Pampanga, he held the positions of director of philosophy, dean of the Graduate School of Theology, and director of the formation theology department.

In the Archdiocese of San Fernando, he was the director of the Pastoral Secretariat; director for the Ongoing Formation of the Clergy; director of the Archdiocesan Commission on Clergy Affairs; and in the last three years, vice president of the Archdiocesan Media Apostolate, Networks Unlimited Inc.

Over the past 14 years, he has also served as a guest professor of Scriptures at the Maryhill School of Theology and Loyola School of Theology.

At present, he is the vice president of the Catholic Biblical Association of the Philippines, and specializes in biblical courses for lay people.

David, after he is consecrated as bishop, will join Bishop Roberto Calasa Mallari as auxiliary to 69-year-old Archbishop Paciano Aniceto, who has six full years ahead of him before he reaches the age of compulsory retirement.

Aniceto has been active as the chairman of the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life.