Retired Tandag bishop dies

Amantillo had been suffering from prostate cancer. He was the first bishop of Tandag in Surigao del Sur and had served the diocese for 23 years. (File Photo: Lorenzo Atienza/CBCP News)

MANILA — Retired Tandag Bishop Ireneo Amantillo died on Thursday. He was 83.

According to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) website, the prelate passed away at the Redemptorist House in Cebu City at 8:25 a.

m..

Amantillo had been suffering from prostate cancer. He was the first bishop of Tandag in Surigao del Sur and had served the diocese for 23 years.

He championed the rights of the poor, the organization and education of the Lumads, and integrity of the environment.

Amantillo was born in Alimodian, Iloilo on Dec. 10, 1934. He was ordained as a Redemptorist priest on Dec. 16, 1962.

In 1978, he was appointed the first bishop of Tandag until he retired in 2001.

The prelate also served as the auxiliary bishop of Cagayan de Oro from 1976-1978 before he became the bishop of Tandag.

Amantillo becomes the seventh Filipino prelate to die this year after retired Bishop Jesus Varela of Sorsogon, retired Auxiliary Bishop Zacharias Jimenez of Butuan, Bishop Jose Oliveros of Malolos, retired Bishop Camilo Gregorio of Batanes, retired Archbishop Edmundo Abaya of Nueva Segovia, and Bishop Wenceslao Padilla of Mongolia.