Former CBCP president Archbishop Lagdameo passes away at 81 from jaw surgery complications


LAGDAMEO (Tara Yap)
ILOILO CITY – Jaro Archdiocese Archbishop Emeritus Angel Lagdameo, a former president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), passed away Friday, July 8, at the age of 81.

“Archbishop Angel Lagdameo returned to our Creator just this 8:30 a.m. at the age of 81. Let us include him in our prayers and masses,” announced the Jaro Archdiocesan Commission on Social Communications.

Fr. Angelo Colada, communications director, said Lagdameo died from complications after undergoing jaw surgery.

The Quezon province prelate was appointed by then Pope John Paul II as the archbishop of Jaro in 2000.

Lagdameo served as archbishop of Jaro which oversees Roman Catholic churches in this city, Iloilo, and Guimaras, until February 2018, when Pope Francis accepted his resignation.

As archbishop, Lagdameo was active in socio-economic issues, including being in the forefront of opposing the construction of a coal-fired power plant here.

As CBCP president from December 2005 until December 2009, Lagdameo opposed the then reproductive health bill.