POPE FRANCIS appointed Bishop Rex Andrew Alarcon of Daet, Camarines Norte, as the new archbishop of Caceres in Camarines Sur on Thursday, Feb. 22.
Alarcon, a sacred theology alumnus, will succeed Archbishop Rolando Tria Tirona, who had helmed the archdiocese since Sept. 8, 2012.
The newly appointed Caceres prelate pursued philosophy at the Holy Rosary Minor Seminary in Naga. He obtained his licentiate in sacred theology in 1996.
He then pursued his licentiate in history at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 2001.
Alarcon, who became the bishop of Daet on Jan. 2, 2019, served as chair of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines Episcopal Commission on Youth and president of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines.
He had also served as secretary to a former Caceres archbishop, Leonardo Legaspi, O.P., the first Filipino UST rector.
Alarcon occupied various administrative positions including being the director of the Naga Parochial School and the Commission on Evangelization of the Archdiocese of Caceres.
In 2019, as the newly minted Daet bishop, he led the Misa de Apertura, the Mass that marks the start of the new academic year in UST.
Last month, Pope Francis appointed UST Central Seminary Vice Rector Fr. Napoleon Sipalay Jr., O.P. bishop of Alaminos, Pangasinan. Fr. Subroto Boniface Gomes, who had completed his licentiate in philosophy at UST, was appointed auxiliary bishop of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, earlier this month.
