Elias Lumayog Ayuban Jr.
Elias Lumayog Ayuban Jr., CMF, was born January 1, 1968, in Parang, then part of Cotabato province and now in Maguindanao del Norte, and was raised in Loay, Bohol. He is a Claretian missionary, not a Manila diocesan priest. He studied at Loay Central Elementary School from 1975 to 1981, at Holy Trinity Academy from 1981 to 1985, in philosophy at Claret College of Philosophy from 1985 to 1989, and in theology at the Loyola School of Theology, Ateneo de Manila University, from 1991 to 1996, and earned a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome in 2003. His episcopal motto is Misericordes sicut Pater, 'Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful'.
He made his first profession on May 5, 1991, in Zamboanga City, and his perpetual profession on July 16, 1995, in Quezon City, where he was ordained a priest on March 9, 1996, by Bishop Crisostomo Yalung. He served as parish priest of Risen Christ Parish in Tungawan from 1996 to 2000, studied in Rome from 2000 to 2003, served as an official of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life and as guest professor of canon law at the Claretianum in Rome, and on returning to the Philippines served as rector of the Claret Theology House from 2004 to 2008, as local superior in 2009, as rector of Saint Anthony Mary Claret College-Seminary, provincial councillor, and prefect of formation from 2010 to 2011, as professor of canon law at the University of Santo Tomas, the Institute for Consecrated Life in Asia, Maryhill School of Theology, and Recoletos School of Theology from 2004 to 2011, as chairman of the Commission for Consecrated Life of the Canon Law Society of the Philippines from 2005 to 2011, and as ecclesiastical judge at the diocesan tribunal of Novaliches from 2005 to 2008. In January 2019 he was elected provincial superior of the Fr. Rhoel Gallardo Province, comprising the Philippines, Australia, Vietnam, and Myanmar, serving until October 2024, when Amador Tumbaga succeeded him; the province was renamed for Fr. Rhoel Gallardo on November 20, 2021. In July 2022 he was elected co-chairperson of the Conference of Major Superiors in the Philippines. His writings include his doctoral dissertation on the office of the provincial superior (2003), Canonical Issues Related to Religious Life (2005, expanded 2008), and Procedures and Formularies for the Use of Religious Institutes (2011).
Pope Francis appointed him the second Bishop of Cubao on October 4, 2024, succeeding Honesto Ongtioco, making him only the second Filipino Claretian ever to be made a bishop. He was ordained bishop and installed on December 3, 2024, at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Cubao, on the feast of St. Francis Xavier, with Archbishop Jose Advincula as principal consecrator and Bishop Ongtioco and Archbishop Alberto Uy as co-consecrators.
Pope Leo XIV appointed him apostolic administrator sede vacante of Parañaque on the retirement of Bishop Jesse Mercado. He oversees Parañaque in a caretaker capacity until a new bishop is installed, and he remains Bishop of Cubao concurrently; Cubao and Parañaque are distinct neighboring suffragans of Manila, and the dual holding is the point, not an error.
- 2026-07-06Pastoral letter confirming that the Mass of the 1962 Roman Missal will continue to be celebrated in the Diocese of Cubao and directing exploration of additional Traditional Latin Masses accessible to a greater number of devotees, in accordance with the norms of Traditionis custodes. ↗
In Cubao, Bishop Ayuban's own July 6, 2026 pastoral letter confirms that the Traditional Latin Mass according to the 1962 Roman Missal will continue to be celebrated and directs exploration of additional celebrations in accordance with the norms of Traditionis custodes; the same letter gives the SSPX guidance coded in the sspx_2026 block.
In Parañaque, no governing act of his own on the 1962 Missal was found; his July 6, 2026 letter was addressed to Cubao and is coded there, not here. His predecessor Ongtioco's record in Cubao is not Ayuban's and is not coded.