POPE Francis named Baguio Bishop Victor Bendico, a Thomasian, as the new archbishop of Capiz on Friday, March 3, filling a seat that has been vacant for over a year.
His appointment ended the Archdiocese of Capiz’s sede vacante status, or a diocese without a bishop, as its former archbishop, Jose Cardinal Advincula, took over the reins of the Archdiocese of Manila in June 2021. Msgr. Cyril Villareal had served as the archdiocesan administrator.
Bendico had been at the helm of the Diocese of Baguio since January 2017, after his predecessor, Bishop Carlito Cenzon, retired in October 2016.
Bendico, 63, finished his philosophical and theological studies at UST before pursuing his doctorate in sacred liturgy at the Pontifical Institute of St. Anselm in Rome. He was ordained in Capiz in 1984.
He is the chairman of the Commission on Liturgy of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.
