Holy Angel University, which is one of the biggest Catholic schools in the Philippines, conferred an honorary doctor’s degree in humanities on Bishop Pablo Virgilio S. David, who is the newly elected President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). The conferment ceremonies, held before an audience of socially distanced faculty members, employees, students and alumni of the University, were live streamed on social media for the benefit of the popular bishop’s huge following.
Bishop David received the honorary degree “for his tireless work of evangelization as homilist, book author, cultural heritage worker and environmental advocate” as well as “for his courage to care for the poorest of the poor, defend the defenseless and empower the marginalized.”
The Board Chairman of the University, Sister Josefina G. Nepomuceno, OSB, and the University’s Acting President, Leopoldo Jaime N. Valdes, conferred the degree on Bishop david following laudations read by several speakers.
Bishop David was the most outspoken critic of the government’s war on drugs, denouncing extrajudicial killings and challenging the police to go after drug lords and syndicates instead of small-time drug peddlers. He called for the rehabilitation of drug users and for due process for arrested drug pushers.
