Romulo Geolina Valles (born July 10, 1951), is the current archbishop of the Archdiocese of Davao in

Davao City Davao City, officially the City of Davao, is a City of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Davao Region, Philippines. The city has a total land area of , making it the List of Philippine cities and municipalities ...

, on the island of

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) is the List of islands of the Philippines, second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and List of islands by population, seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

and was the president of the

Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (abbreviated as CBCP) is the permanent organizational assembly of the Catholic bishops of the Philippines exercising together certain pastoral offices for the Christian faithful of their terr ...

from 2017 to 2021. He was the former archbishop of Zamboanga before being appointed to the Davao see.

Biography

He was ordained a priest on 6 April 1976 at the age of 24. On 6 August 1997, aged 46, he was elevated to a bishop, and appointed to Kidapawan, Philippines. After 9 years, he was elevated to Archbishop of Zamboanga on 13 November 2006. He was appointed Archbishop of Davao on February 12, 2012, Valles took over the Davao archdiocese from Archbishop Fernando Capalla, 77, whose resignation has been accepted by the pontiff. The new archbishop was installed in a solemn liturgical rite of reception in which he canonically took possession of the metropolitan cathedral church, the San Pedro Cathedral, on May 22, 2012, in the presence of Papal Nuncio to the Philippines, Archbishop Giuseppe Pinto, cardinals, other archbishops, bishops, priests, and laity from Davao City, and all over the country. Valles was elected on July 8, 2017, as President of the

, succeeding Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, assuming the post on December 1, 2017. He was reelected to the same position in 2019. On 23 May 2020, Valles suffered a mild stroke and was hospitalized until July 6 due to an acquired hospital pneumonia. Pablo Virgilio David, vice-president of the CBCP, was temporarily appointed acting president. In July 2021, David was elected president by the CBCP and succeeded Valles assuming the position last December 1, 2021. On 23 April 2022,

Ateneo de Davao University Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU; ) is a private Catholic basic and higher education institution in Davao City, Davao del Sur, Philippines. It is run by the Philippine Jesuit Province. Before the Jesuits took over administration of the schoo ...

President Joel Tabora conferred upon Valles the Doctor of Humanities

Honoris Causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

on the event of the 72nd Commencement Exercises of the University, the second event of its kind done virtually. Following the

arrest of Rodrigo Duterte On March 11, 2025, former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte was arrested by the Philippine National Police and Interpol in Operation Pursuit under an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant charging him with crimes against humanity relat ...

in 2025, Valles said "Justice…must be pursued with fairness and integrity. It must remain free from partisan political motivations or personal vendettas", and offered prayers for Duterte and his family while reiterating calls for accountability.

References

External links

20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the Philippines 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the Philippines 1951 births Living people People from Bohol Roman Catholic archbishops of Zamboanga Roman Catholic archbishops of Davao Roman Catholic bishops of Kidapawan Presidents of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines {{Philippines-RC-archbishop-stub