MANILA (UCAN): Claretian Father Leo Dalmao was ordained and installed as the fourth bishop of Isabela, the capital of Basilan province in the southern Philippines, known in recent years as a hub of insurgent activity by various Islamic extremist groups, on May 24.
 
The 49-year-old Bishop Dalmao, suceeded Bishop Martin Jumoad who was named bishop of Ozamiz in 2016. He becomes the first Filipino Claretian missionary to join the College of Bishops.
 

MANILA (UCAN): Sister Crescencia “Cres” Lucero of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, suffered a stroke while attending a meeting on human rights in Jakarta, Indonesia. She underwent an operation for cerebral haemorrhage on May 9, but eventually died on May 15. She was 77-years-old.
 

They used their own laptop computers and their own mobile phones to assist voters during this year’s midterm elections in the Philippines.
 
They were not required to do so. It was not even their job. It was something they did to try to ensure “honest and clean elections” across the country.
 
Most of the 300,000 volunteers of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), a Church-based poll watchdog, are young people.

MANILA (Agencies): On May 13, the day the Philippines went to polls for its mid-term elections, the president, Rodrigo Duterte, said vote buying is an “integral” part of the country’s electoral exercise. He excused it as just politicians paying the fare of local leaders who are helping ensure votes for them in a locality, according a May 16 report from UCAN. 
 

MANILA (UCAN): Thousands of people remain in temporary shelters more than 18 months after Philippine troops ended a five-month conflict with Islamic militants in the southern city of Marawi that displaced close to half a million people.
 
The United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated that about 66,000 people are still homeless.
 
Some are staying with relatives in nearby areas, while an estimated 4,500 people are still at four evacuation centres, the OCHA said.

MANILA (Agencies): Philippine bishops urged the winners of the country’s midterm elections, especially the new senators, to live up to the expectations of the electorate, CBCP News reported on May 14.
 
Bishop Ruperto Santos of Balanga, expressed hopes that elected officials would truly work for the service of the people and not for vested interests.
 

MANILA (UCAN):  Bishop Fidelis Layog, the new auxiliary bishop of Lingayen-Dagupan, the northern Philippines, expressed his readiness to face threats after recent attacks against Church leaders in the country on May 8.
 
“Being threatened and attacked has always been the experience of the Catholic Church from the very beginning,” Bishop Layog said as he called on members of the clergy not to fear for their lives.
 

Manila (UCAN): “We bow in shame, we beg for forgiveness,” Archbishop Romulo Valles of Davao, told about 15,000 delegates to this year’s National Youth Day celebration in Cebu on April 27.
 
The head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said, “We continue to say: We are so sorry and beg for forgiveness from the Lord and from those this hurt and the wrongdoing that has been done,” said the prelate during a forum with young people.
 

MANILA (UCAN): Church leaders in the Philippines have warned against the proliferation of recent online scams targeting unsuspecting Catholics.
 
Manila Cathedral issued a call in mid-April against a social media account selling miraculous medals and claiming to be connected with the Church.