I JUST returned from my home province of Catanduanes where I attended the June 26 installation of the Most Reverend Luisito Audal Occiano of Camarines Sur as the third Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Virac, following the retirement of the Most Reverend Manolo de los Santos after 30 years of devoted service to the Church and people of Catanduanes. Most Rev. Jose C. Sorra, the first bishop of Virac from 1974 to 1993, died in 2021, and his remains now lie inside the beautifully renovated Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Virac.

It was my first trip outside Manila in years, after the pandemic, and it allowed me to rediscover the beauty of my own province. I was born and grew up in its poorest town, and as a teenager took a passenger ship to Manila in search of an education. I worked my way through school, became a journalist, then a Cabinet member and an elective politician. From 1978 to 1984, I represented the province and the Bicol Region at the interim Batasang Pambansa. I then established my residence in Virac and became an active faithful of the diocese.