MANILA, Philippines - The CBCPNews, the official news service provider of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), reported that Masbate Bishop Joel Baylon has been re-assigned to head the Diocese of Legazpi in Albay.
Since November 2007, he was given the responsibility of taking charge of the diocese when Bishop Nestor Carino retired.
The 55-year-old Baylon is known to be a staunch anti-mining advocate and even led a protest action against Filminera, a foreign mining company now in Aroroy town.
He presently chairs the CBCP’s Episcopal Commission on Youth in charge of overseeing the activities of the youth apostolate on the parochial, diocesan and national levels.
He was born in Milaor, Camarines Sur on Jan. 29, 1954 and was ordained as priest in 1978 at the age of 24.
In February 1998, the late Pope John Paul II appointed him as bishop of the Diocese of Masbate where he served for 11 years.
No date has been set yet for his installation at the Diocese of Legazpi. – Evelyn Macairan