Bishop Joel Zamudio Baylon

Bishop Joel Zamudio Baylon, Bishop of Legazpi, was born on January 29, 1954, in Milaor, in what was then the Prelature of Libmanan. After attending primary and secondary schools, he received his priestly formation at the Divine Word Seminary in Legazpi City and then at the Divine Word Seminary in Tagaytay, and subsequently studied at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and at Berkeley in California. He was ordained a priest for Legazpi on October 8, 1978. He then served as professor and spiritual director at the minor seminary of Legazpi; spiritual director at the Holy Rosary Seminary in Naga City; assistant secretary of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines; and local attaché of the Apostolic Nunciature in Manila. In 1995 he became parish priest of Bigaa in the Diocese of Legazpi. On February 14, 1998, he was appointed Bishop of Masbate. He received episcopal ordination on March 25, 1998, with Gian Vincenzo Moreni as principal consecrator and Leonardo Zamora Legaspi and José Crisologo Sorra as co-consecrators. On October 1, 2009, he was appointed Bishop of Legazpi, and he was installed on December 10, 2009. Within the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines he has chaired the Commission on Youth.