San Sebastian Parish - Historical Background

Historical Background

Prior to the establishment as a local church, the present-day Diocese of Pasig used to be a part of the Archdiocese of Manila (largely under the Ecclesiastical District of Makati). The Vicariate of Santo Tomas de Villanueva was then under the Diocese of Antipolo.

On October 2001, the parishes belonging to the Vicariate of the Immaculate Conception, along with the parishes of Pateros and Taguig City were clustered under the Ecclesiastical District of Pasig. Most Rev. Nestor Cariño (now bishop-emeritus of Legazpi) became its first district bishop.

When Most Rev. Francisco San Diego assumed his post as the first bishop of Pasig, he elected Very Rev. Msgr. Rodolfo Gallardo, PC as the first Vicar General and Rev. Fr. Roy Rosales as the first Chancellor. Rev. Fr. Pedro Enrique "Betbet" Rabonza IV was appointed Judicial Vicar, Rev. Fr. Amando Litana as Superintendent of Catholic Schools in the diocese, while Rev. Msgr. Manuel Gabriel, PC as the diocesan Pastoral Director.

On December 2003, Msgr. Gallardo was installed rector of the Immaculate Conception Parish in Malinao, Pasig City. He held the position as cathedral rector and Vicar General until 2005.

Fr. Rosales succeeded Msgr. Gallardo as rector of the cathedral. Rev. Fr. Ramil R. Marcos, then Vice-Chancellor, became the second Vicar General of the diocese, from 2005 to 2006. Fr. Orlando Cantillon, who succeeded Fr. Marcos, is the current Vicar General.

Since its erection, the Diocese of Pasig officiated a number of priestly ordinations. The first was on September 8, 2003 with Fr. Hokan Samson as the first priest ever to be ordained in the diocese. Fr. Nicandro Lim Jr. was ordained at the Shrine of Saint Anne on August 29, 2006. Fr. Darwin Calderon and Fr. Reynaldo Reyes were ordained next, at Santo Tomas de Villanueva Parish on March 31, 2007. At Santa Clara de Montefalco Parish Fr. Juvi Coronel and Fr. Loreto Sanchez Jr. were ordained on December 1, 2007. Fr. Daniel Estacio was ordained on November 15, 2008 at Saint John the Baptist Parish. The following week, November 22, 2008, Bishop San Diego ordained Fr. Hernandez Mendoza at Santa Clara de Montefalco Parish. In the year 2010, Fr. Mark Emman Sese and Fr. Joeffrey Brian Catuiran were ordained priests.

On December 7, 2008, the Diocese of Pasig celebrated the Canonical Coronation of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception of Pasig, which took place at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral. The occasion was attended by the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams, together with Bishop San Diego, the clergy and the faithful in the diocese.

The historic church of Pateros, the Parish of San Roque, was granted the canonical title of Diocesan Shrine of Santa Marta on February 7, 2009

Among the achievements of the bishop were the construction of the Bishop's Residence, located within the vicinity of the cathedral, and the various diocesan offices. A quasi-parish, which was the first since the birth of the diocese, was established in Bagong Tanyag, Taguig City in September 2010 as Our Mother of Perpetual Help Quasi-Parish separated from Sagrada Familia Parish in Bagumbayan.

On December 21, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI accepted San Diego's retirement as Bishop of Pasig, in compliance with Canon 401, Paragraph 1 of the Code of Canon Law, requiring bishops to tender their resignation upon reaching the mandatory age of 75. Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, concurrently Archbishop of Manila, was named Apostolic Administrator of the diocese. Rosales presided over the Chrism Mass of the diocese on April 20, 2011. Around six in the evening that day (12 noon in the Vatican), the Pope officially named Most Rev. Mylo Hubert Claudio Vergara, currently Bishop of San Jose in the province of Nueva Ecija, as second bishop of Pasig.