Pope Leo XIV’s has appointed Bishop Louie Galbines of Kabankalan to succeed Bishop Patricio Buzon in the Diocese of Bacolod.
The appointment of Galbines, 59, as 7th bishop of Bacolod was announced in Vatican City May 14, the diocese said.
Buzon, 76, retired after surpassing the mandatory retirement age for Catholic bishops. He led the diocese for nearly 10 years, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said.
The appointment brings Galbines back to the diocese where he was born, ordained a priest, and served in key leadership roles before he became a bishop.
Born in Aliwanag, Sagay City in Negros Occidental in 1966, Galbines studied philosophy and theology at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Central Seminary in Manila before his priestly ordination for Bacolod in 1994.
He initially served as deputy dean and spiritual director of the Sacred Heart Seminary in Bacolod, as well as chancellor and secretary of the diocesan curia.
Galbines later pursued advanced studies in Rome at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, earning licentiate and doctoral degrees in sacred theology in 2001, the CBCP said.
Upon returning to the Philippines, he served as a collaborator with the bishops’ conference and later held several diocesan leadership posts, including rector of Sacred Heart Seminary and vicar general of Bacolod.
Pope Francis appointed Galbines as bishop of the Diocese of Kabankalan in March 2018. He was ordained bishop at the San Sebastian Cathedral in Bacolod on May 28, 2018, and installed in Kabankalan the following day.
Buzon, before his assignment to Bacolod, spent 13 years as bishop of Kabankalan. A member of the Salesians of St. John Bosco, he was ordained a priest in 1976 and has served as bishop for 23 years, the CBCP added. ||
