Luisito Audal Occiano

Luisito Audal Occiano was born June 21, 1971, and hails from Nabua, Camarines Sur, where his parents, the late Domingo Occiano and the late Ester Audal, both natives of the town, raised six children. He finished elementary at La Consolacion Academy in Iriga City in 1984, completed high school at Holy Rosary Minor Seminary in Naga City in 1988, and earned degrees in philosophy and theology at Holy Rosary Major Seminary in Naga City. He also studied religious formation and catechesis at Ateneo de Manila and earned a master’s degree from Ateneo de Naga.

He was ordained to the diaconate on December 8, 1995, by Archbishop Leonardo Z. Legaspi, O.P., at the Peñafrancia Basilica Minore in Naga City, and ordained a priest on November 10, 1996, at Holy Cross Parish in his hometown; no ordaining bishop for the priesthood is named in the sources. His posts included parochial vicar at the Metropolitan Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Naga; Secretary of the Office of the Archbishop in 1999; parochial vicar of St. Francis of Assisi in 2003; Director of the Caceres Catechetical Ministry (2003-2005); Vice Rector of the Peñafrancia Basilica Minore (2004-2016); parish priest of St. Bartholomew the Apostle in Baao from 2016 (an RVA profile dates the Baao assignment from 2015); and, from 2021 until his consecration, parish priest and rector of the Archdiocesan Shrine of St. Joseph in San Jose, Camarines Sur, and school director of the Instituto de Caceres – San Jose Campus. Twenty of his 27 priestly years were spent in the Caceres Commission on Communications, which he directed at his appointment. His motto is Cum Gaudio Praedicare (“To proclaim with Joy”), inspired by 1 John 1:3-4.

Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of Virac on February 29, 2024. He was ordained a bishop on June 21, 2024, at the Peñafrancia Basilica Minore, with Archbishop Emeritus Rolando Tria Tirona as principal consecrator and Archbishop Rex Andrew Alarcon and Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana as co-consecrators; a pre-event announcement had wrongly named Nuncio Charles Brown, rather than Alarcon, as co-consecrator. He was installed as the third Bishop of Virac on June 26, 2024, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, succeeding Manolo de los Santos, who had served about 29 years and was appointed apostolic administrator until the installation. The diocese, established in 1974 with Jose Sorra as first bishop, counts 50 parishes, 13 mission churches, and about 70 priests, and celebrated its golden anniversary in August 2024.