Bishop of Borongan
Bishop Crispin Barrete Varquez, Bishop of Borongan, was born on December 5, 1960, in Sevilla, Bohol, in the Diocese of Tagbilaran. He studied philosophy at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Tagbilaran and theology at St. Augustine Major Seminary in Tagaytay, and subsequently obtained a licentiate in family counselling. He was ordained a priest for Tagbilaran on April 14, 1989, in Tagbilaran City. After two years as a missionary in the Apostolic Vicariate of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, he served as assistant parish priest and then as formator at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Tagbilaran (1992-1995). Appointed parish priest at Panglao, he was then formator at St. Augustine Major Seminary in Tagaytay (1996-2000). From 2000 to 2005 he served as parish priest of Our Lady of Lourdes church in Tagbilaran City and concurrently as vicar forane. From 2005 he was parish priest of the cathedral and, latterly, vicar general of the Diocese of Tagbilaran. On August 4, 2007, he was appointed Bishop of Borongan. He received episcopal ordination on October 18, 2007, at Tagbilaran, with Leonardo Yuzon Medroso as principal consecrator and Antonieto Dumagan Cabajog and Jose Serofia Palma as co-consecrators. He was installed as Bishop of Borongan on November 8, 2007.