Ex-Kidapawan Bishop Pueblos dies at 74
Church • 07:08 AM Sun Oct 22, 2017
1,560
By:
Edwin O. Fernandez
Butuan Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos, 74 (CBCP)
COTABATO CITY – Butuan Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos has returned to his Creator
Saturday evening due to lingering illness, his secretary Fr. Michael Abellanosa
today said.
In a text
message, his secretary in the Diocese of Butuan, Fr. Michael Abellanosa, said Bishop
Pueblos breathed his last at 6:55 p.m.
Today, Oct
21, at 6.55 p.m., Bishop Juan De Dios Pueblos, D.D. returned home to the
Heavenly Father. May he rest in peace, Fr. ABellanosa said.
Bishop Pueblos
death came three days after the country’s oldest cardinal, Ricardo Cardinal
Vidal, former archbishop of Cebu, had died due to due to infection leading to
septic shock on October 18, according to Msgr. Joseph Tan, the Cebu archdiocese’s
spokesperson.
He was 86 at
the time of his death at 7:26 a.m.
Fr. Abellanosa
did not say what caused the bishop’s death. The bishop had
been confined in Cardinal Santos hospital in Manila for still unknown illness.
Bishop Pueblos’
death was also confirmed by Bishop Alberto Uy of the Diocese of Tagbilaran who broke
the news on his Facebook accountand SAD NEWS. Today, Oct 21, at 6.55pm, Bishop
Juan De Dios ‘DD’ Pueblos (a Boholano bishop) returned home to the Heavenly
Father. May he rest in peace. Amen.
Pueblos became
controversial in 2011 when he received a Mitsubishi Montero from the Philippine
Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) after he wrote then President Gloria
Macapagal-Arrroyo requesting a vehicle for his 66th birthday.
At the height
of the Duterte administration’s campaign against drugs, Pueblos urged the
government to respect the judicial process when dealing with drug users and
pushers.
Pueblos was
born on March 8, 1943 in Moto Sur in Loon town, Bohol and was educated at the
Immaculate Heart Seminary in Tagbilaran and San Carlos Major Seminary.
He was ordained
a priest on March 28, 1968 and spent the next 17 years
serving in pastoral and educational assignments.
On April 29,
1985, Pope John Paul II appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of Davao. His episcopal
ordination was on June 24, 1985. On Feb. 3, 1987, he was appointed Bishop of
Kidapawan and served there for eight years.The Pope appointed him Second Bishop of Butuan on Nov. 24, 1995. He
was installed on Jan. 17, 1996.
Until his
death, Bishop Pueblos was a member of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the
Philippines' (CBCP) Episcopal Commission on Family and Life and vice chairman
of Permanent Committee on Public Affairs (PCPA).
Fluent in English,
Tagalog, Cebuano and Boholano, Pueblos finished his elementary at Loon Central
Elementary School in 1947 and high school at Sacred Heart Academy in 1953.
In 1958, he
earned Philosophy at Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Bohol and Theology at
San Carlos Major Seminary in 1960.
Most of his
assignments were in Bohol until he was named as auxiliary Bishop of Davao then bishop of Kidapawan.
(Edwin O. Fernandez)