By Edalyn Acta | April 27, 2026
By Edalyn B. Acta
Capiznon Cyril “Jojo” Buhayan Villareal has been installed as the new bishop of the Diocese of Kalibo in Aklan.
No less than Capiz Archbishop Victor Bendico, who is also a Capiznon, led the episcopal ordination and installation rites of 52-year-old Bishop Villareal at the Kalibo Cathedral last April 23, 2026.
It was last January when Pope Leo XIV appointed Bishop Villareal to replace retired Bishop Jose Corazon Tala-oc in Kalibo.
A native of Mambusao, Bishop Villareal is now overseeing 24 parishes across Aklan, which has around 600,000 Catholics.
“I promise that I will do my best to be a good shepherd to you — a shepherd who listens to you and who cares for you; a shepherd who will pray for you; a shepherd who will bless you with the Lord,” Bishop Villareal told priests and the faithful.
Archbishop of Manila Cardinal Jose Advincula Jr., who is also a Capiznon, urged Bishop Villareal to espouse goodness.
“We pray that your shepherding of blessings becomes a ministry recognizing goodness, guarding goodness. May you bless the good Lord at all times and bless your people with goodness,” said Cardinal Advincula.
It was Bishop Villareal who served as archdiocesan administrator of the Archdiocese of Capiz in 2021–2023 when Cardinal Advincula became the Archbishop of Manila and before the installation of Archbishop Bendico.
Also present at Bishop Villareal’s ordination was Jaro Archbishop Midyphil “Dodong” Bermejo Billones, another Capiznon who hails from Panay.
Prior to his assignment in the Diocese of Kalibo, Bishop Villareal was the parish priest of St. Thomas of Villanova Parish in the Municipality of Dao.
Born in 1974, Bishop Villareal’s priesthood began in Roxas City. He graduated high school in 1991 and earned his A.B. in Philosophy degree in 1995 both from St. Pius X Seminary.
Bishop Villareal studied theology at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) in Manila and went on to obtained a master’s degree in theology from the University of Vienna in Austria.
Bishop Villareal was ordained as a priest in May 25, 2001 at the Immaculate Conception Metropolitan Cathedral in Roxas City. (With reports from the Chancery of the Archdiocese of Capiz)
