Archbishop Ricardo Lingan Baccay

Archbishop Ricardo Lingan Baccay, Archbishop of Tuguegarao, was born on April 3, 1961, in Tuguegarao, Cagayan, in the Archdiocese of Tuguegarao. He attended secondary school at San Jacinto Seminary and courses in philosophy and theology at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, and subsequently obtained a master of arts from the Lyceum of Aparri and a doctorate in educational management from the University of Manila. He was ordained a priest for Tuguegarao on April 10, 1987. He served as private secretary to the Archbishop of Tuguegarao (1987-1993); parish priest of St. Dominic parish in Gataggamman, Tuguegarao (1993-1999); and parish priest of the Santo Niño Shrine in San Gabriel, Tuguegarao (1999-2005). In 2005 he became rector of San Jacinto minor seminary in the same archdiocese, and from 1987 to 2007 he also served as director of catechetical ministry of the Archdiocese of Tuguegarao. On February 23, 2007, he was appointed Titular Bishop of Gabala and Auxiliary Bishop of Tuguegarao. He received episcopal ordination on April 10, 2007, at Tuguegarao, with Fernando Filoni as principal consecrator and Diosdado Aenlle Talamayan and Sergio Lasam Utleg as co-consecrators. On February 20, 2016, he was appointed Bishop of Alaminos, and he was installed on May 4, 2016. On October 18, 2019, he was appointed Archbishop of Tuguegarao, and he was installed on January 14, 2020. Within the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines he was elected chairman of the Episcopal Commission on Bioethics and regional representative for northern Luzon.