Abel Cahiles Apigo

Abel Cahiles Apigo was born on May 21, 1968, in Calinan, Davao City, with family roots in Bohol. He pursued his philosophical and theological studies at St. Francis Xavier Regional Major Seminary in Davao City. He was ordained a priest in 1994 for the Archdiocese of Davao by Archbishop Antonio Ll. Mabutas, who, the Herald's 'Mature Church' piece records, also ordained Afable and Tonel to the priesthood. The year 1994 is confirmed by the Herald's February 2018 statement that Mabutas had ordained him '24 years ago'; the day April 18, 1994, is Wikipedia-only and is flagged. He began as parochial vicar at San Pedro Cathedral from 1994 to 1996, then served as pastoral director from 1996 to 1997, and then at St. Francis Xavier Regional Major Seminary as professor from 2000 to 2001, coordinator for academic affairs from 2001 to 2002, vice-rector and dean from 2002 to 2006, and rector from 2006 to 2018; the rector role is confirmed by the Herald, which calls him rector of the seminary at his appointment, while the year-by-year sequence rests on Wikipedia. He did not serve as a parish priest; the Herald notes he 'did not have the experience as a parish priest' but had pastoral experience as parochial vicar, and Archbishop Emeritus Fernando Capalla attributed his appointment mostly to his maturity as seminary rector and formator.

On February 10, 2018, Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of Mati; the announcement came during a Friends of REMASE gathering, with Archbishop Romulo Valles issuing a circular letter on February 11. He was ordained a bishop on April 24, 2018, at the Metropolitan Cathedral of San Pedro in Davao City, with Archbishop Valles as principal and Bishops Afable of Digos and Tonel of Ipil as co-consecrators, and installed on April 25, 2018, at San Nicolas de Tolentino Cathedral in Mati City, where the 3:00 p.m. canonical installation saw Valles and Capalla lead him to the cathedra and Tonel preach the homily. He is the second bishop of Mati, succeeding Patricio Hacbang Alo, the diocese's first bishop, who served from November 9, 1984, after the diocese's creation on February 16, 1984, until retiring for health reasons in 2014; the see then stood vacant for more than three years under apostolic administrator Msgr. Editho Baño. Tonel recalled at the installation that Apigo's mother, Nanay Pining, had said Tonel convinced her to allow her son to enter the seminary. His motto 'Fortitudo Mea Dominus' is Wikipedia-only and is not shipped, and it is distinct from Talibon's Parcon motto 'Christus Fortitudo Mea', which is likewise not shipped; the two men are not to be confused. Tonel's own ordination details in the Herald ordination piece, Capalla as principal with Ledesma and Lagdameo, priesthood April 12, 1980, episcopacy August 20, 2007, are Tonel's, not Apigo's.

In the window, no governing act of his own concerning the 1962 Missal was found. His window record is media evangelization: at the March 2022 twin-anniversary celebration of the diocese's stations DXHM-AM and DXDV Spirit FM, he preached the homily at the Eucharistic celebration, urging the use of every available medium for evangelization and pledging that the diocese would continue and improve the stations' work. The Herald piece's description of him as the diocese's 'new and enigmatic shepherd' is the author's phrasing, not his words.