Cyril Buhayan Villareal

Cyril Buhayan Villareal was born on March 1, 1974, in Mambusao, Capiz, to Candido Villareal and Elenita Buhayan; his nickname is 'Jojo'. He attended St. Pius X Seminary in Roxas City, finishing high school in 1991 and earning an A.B. in Philosophy in 1995, then earned a bachelor's degree in sacred theology from the University of Santo Tomas in 1998 and a licentiate in sacred theology in 2000. He was ordained a priest on May 25, 2001. The January 24, 2026 Vatican bulletin prints March 25, 2001; the dossier follows May 25, the date given by the Capiz archdiocesan chancery via the Capiz Times, with the same day number 25 pointing to a bulletin month error. He later earned a Magister Theologiae in moral theology in Vienna, where he also served as assistant chaplain of the Filipino Catholic Chaplaincy from September 2005 to September 2010. His posts included formator and lecturer at the Sancta Maria Mater et Regina Seminarium in Cagay, Roxas City, from 2000 to 2004, priest of Most Holy Redeemer parish in Quezon City from 2004 to 2005, formator at the same seminary from 2012 to 2016, rector of the Immaculate Conception Metropolitan Cathedral in Roxas City from 2016 to 2018, Vicar General and member of the College of Consultors from 2016 to 2021, rector of the Colegio de la Purisima Concepcion in Roxas City from 2018 to 2023 (Wikipedia gives 2024; the bulletin governs), director of the Office for the Reception of Reports Pertaining to Sexual Abuse by Clerics and Religious from 2020 to 2023, diocesan administrator of Capiz from 2021 to 2023, and parish priest of St. Thomas of Villanova in Dao from 2023. The Capiz administrator service was as a priest, between Advincula's transfer to Manila and Bendico's possession in May 2023, and is not a tenure. His episcopal motto is Benedicam, Latin for 'I will bless', from Psalm 34:1.

On January 24, 2026, Pope Leo XIV appointed him the fifth Bishop of Kalibo, succeeding Jose Corazon Tala-oc, who had retired in June 2025; Archbishop Victor Bendico of Capiz served as apostolic administrator during the ten-month sede vacante. Villareal was ordained a bishop and installed on April 23, 2026, at Kalibo Cathedral, with Bendico as principal consecrator and Bishops Jose Corazon Tala-oc and Narciso Abellana as co-consecrators. The diocese counts 24 parishes and two mission stations and more than 600,000 Catholics.

In the window, his public record since April 2026 is diocesan leadership, not liturgical governance. On July 15, 2026, he marked the diocese's Golden Jubilee at the Cathedral Parish of St. John the Baptist in Kalibo, at a Mass presided over by Nuncio Charles Brown with about 26 bishops concelebrating, including Cardinal Advincula. In September 2026, he issued a pastoral statement against the opening of a hotel-casino on Boracay. Diocesan opposition to Boracay casinos dates back decades, to a shelved 2003 proposal and a 2021 appeal to President Duterte, but that opposition belongs to his predecessors and is inherited context, not his act. No governing act of his own concerning the 1962 Missal was found.