Apu Ceto, Bishop Bobet and Bishop Ambo

Archbishop Paciano Basilio Aniceto

THE Archdiocese of San Fernando, Pampanga is the only archdiocese in the country (except Manila) with three bishops running it; not even the older, more populous Cebu or Naga or Nueva Caceres have as many apostolic leaders.

When Bishop Roberto "Bobet" Mallari was named auxiliary bishop to Archbishop Paciano "Apu Ceto" Aniceto, people heaved a sigh of relief and thanked the Vatican for giving the overworked archbishop an able assistant to run the archdiocese.

This was quickly followed by the announcement that another priest had been named bishop:  the popular Fr. Pablo "Ambo" David of Men of Light fame. Three bishops for a relatively small and young archdiocese (it was created only in 1948)?

Is it Pope Benedict XVI's way of rewarding Kapampangans for their well-known fidelity to the Catholic Church? Or does it mean there are so many problems here that the archbishop needs not one but two auxiliary bishops?

Actually the archdiocese of San Fernando has three suffragan dioceses under it: the diocese of Tarlac (under Bishop Florentino Cinense, nephew of Pampanga's second bishop, Bishop Emilio Cinense), the diocese of Iba, Zambales (under Bishop Florentino Lavarias, native of Mabalacat) and the diocese of Balanga, Bataan (under Bishop Socrates Villegas). They are all technically under Archbishop Aniceto, which is the reason we are called a metropolitan archdiocese.

Auxiliary Bishop Roberto Calara Mallari 

Many Kapampangans consider Apu Ceto a living saint. That reputation dates back to a long time ago, back when I was still a high school freshman at the Mother of Good Counsel Seminary. He was our rector, but unlike most seminary rectors who are distant and fearsome, Apu Ceto was totally accessible.  For example, he could have slept in his air-conditioned room away from noisy high school-age seminarians, yet he chose to sleep with us in the dormitory hall, on a mat instead of a mattress. At 4:30 a.m. when the wake-up bell rang, Apu Ceto, his threadbare bathrobe wrapped around his reed-thin frame, went from bed to bed to rouse oversleeping seminarians. When something made him angry (which was rarer than a solar eclipse), he would only blush a little and give us a hurt look, which of course made the guilty feel guiltier.  

Apu Ceto the rector was serious and humorless; Apu Ceto the archbishop is child-like, bright-eyed and always poking fun at himself. You could say that the miter-and-staff becomes him. I know priests who glow in the company of the wealthy and powerful, but Apu Ceto will never turn down a poor tricycle driver's request to bless his vehicle, or a fish vendor's invitation to go to her small birthday party.

Bishop Bobet Mallari is, in many ways, like Apu Ceto: soft-spoken, humble and yes, saintly. The success of his ministry at the Lourdes Heights Parish, and the reforms he initiated in the University of the Assumption, reveal an astute manager behind a shepherd's gentle ways.  The archdiocesan university was definitely on the road to perdition until Bishop Bobet took the driver's seat and gave it a turnaround. 

On the other hand, Bishop Ambo David's brilliance has inspired a cult following among young priests, seminarians and fans of his cable-TV show.  Fellow bishops at the CBCP regularly seek his counsel (even Apu Ceto quotes him in his homilies).  He is probably the most sought-after resource person, lecturer and guest speaker in the Philippine Church today.  His radicalism, possibly acquired from, or enhanced by, his brother Prof. Randy David, puts fire in his eyes and in his speech, making him a passionate advocate and effective crusader of lost causes.  If Bishop Bobet reminds people of Jesus carrying a lamb around His shoulders, Bishop Ambo is the wild-eyed Jesus cracking the whip and overturning gambling tables at the Temple.  


When we were still seminarians, I once caught Ambo, then a high school junior, maybe 14 years old (I was 11), debating with his classmate and rival, Willie Manrique, over the dogma of the Immaculate Conception -- in Spanish! How many 14-year-olds today can even spell the word conception?

It will really be interesting to watch how our two new bishops will interact with their former seminary rector now that they are all in the same fellowship of the (bishop's) ring.

Auxiliary Bishop Pablo Virgilio Siongco David 

There are many burning issues facing the Universal Church today, including priests being accused of getting mistresses or siring children or molesting minors, as well as priests mismanaging parish funds, leading scandalously opulent lifestyles, and defacing heritage churches and selling church antiques.

Pampanga has always been a bastion of Catholicism since colonial times. The country's first priests, first nuns, first missionaries, first martyrs, first Jesuits -- they all came from Pampanga. The Philippines' first cardinal was a Kapampangan, Rufino Jiao Santos of Guagua. The parish that has produced the most number of priests and seminarians is Betis, Guagua. The list of Kapampangan bishops is long: Archbishop Pedro Santos, Bishop Alejandro Olalia, Bishop Federico Escaler, Bishop Jesus Galang, Bishop Crisostomo Yalung, Bishop Teodoro Bacani, Bishop Florentino Lavarias, Bishop Honesto Ongtioco, not to mention Archbishop Oscar Cruz and Bishop Carlito Cenzon, who are both half- Kapampangans. Even the present head of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (Aglipayan Church) is a Kapampangan: Obispo Maximo Godofredo David of Guagua. Former student activist Nilo Tayag of Porac, founder of the Kabataang Makabayan (KM), is now also a bishop of another branch of the Aglipayan Church.

There is no doubt that Kapampangans are among the most religious people in the country: you see it in the number of Masses said every Sunday, in the amount of money collected for church projects, and in the way we treat our priests with genuine, sometimes exaggerated, reverence. You see it even in the number of penitents who flagellate themselves on Good Friday.

But religiosity is not the same as spirituality. How many of the thousands of Kapampangans who go to Mass regularly lead really spiritual lives? If Kapampangans practice what their priests preach, then why isn't the crime rate going down? Why are there as many cases of broken marriages and premarital sex here as anywhere else?

Still, I am happy for my former co-seminarians Bishop Ambo and Bishop Bobet: their combined scholasticism, managerial skills and holiness can only enrich the pastoral leadership of the beloved, charismatic Apu Ceto.