Vicar Apostolic of Puerto Princesa
Bishop Socrates Calamba Mesiona, M.S.P., Vicar Apostolic of Puerto Princesa, was born on September 17, 1963, in Tagbilaran, Bohol. He studied philosophy at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary (1980-1984) and theology at the Divine Word School of Theology (1984-1989), and from 1994 to 1996 studied missiology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, obtaining a licentiate. He was ordained a priest on April 14, 1989, as a member of the Mission Society of the Philippines. After ordination he served as school director of the Fil-Mission Seminary (1989-1991); parish priest of Our Lady of the Abandoned parish, Mandaluyong City (1991-1994); a student in Rome (1994-1996); rector of the Fil-Mission Seminary, Tagaytay City (1996-1999); general bursar and a member of the council of the Mission Society of the Philippines (1999-2004); superior general of the Mission Society of the Philippines from January 1, 2004 until 2009; and from 2009 national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies. On October 28, 2016, he was appointed Titular Bishop of Budua and Vicar Apostolic of Puerto Princesa. He received episcopal ordination on February 10, 2017, with Gaudencio Borbon Rosales as principal consecrator and Arturo Mandin Bastes and Edgardo Sarabia Juanich as co-consecrators.