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PIC Reelects Bishop Ga

Diocesan Press Service. May 25, 1973 [73145]

MANILA, The Philippines -- Bishop Macario V. Ga was reelected Supreme Bishop of the Philippine Independent Church for a term of four years by the General Assembly in an election held last May 8 in the PIC national Cathedral in Manila.

As Obispo Maximo, he is to the Philippine Independent Church as the Archbishop of Canterbury is to the whole Anglican Communion. He is the spiritual head and official representative of his Church and as such he has the prerogative of honor and supervisory power over the clergy on matters of discipline.

Bishop Ga's reelection is interpreted as a vote of confidence for his two-year stewardship of his Church following the untimely demise of the late Supreme Bishop, Isabelo de los Reyes, Jr. He is the fifth supreme head of the Philippine Independent Church that claims a membership of about 3 million, the first being Bishop Aglipay who occupied it for 38 long years.

The PIC broke ties with the Church of Rome at the turn of the century and was formally proclaimed in 1902 by Don Isabelo de los Reyes, Sr., a labor leader and a staunch supporter of the Filipino clergy during the closing years of Spanish rule in the Islands. After almost half a century of ecumenical pioneering, it entered into concordat relation with the Episcopal Church in the United States in 1961.

The son of a municipal councilor, Macario Ga was born on April 10, 1914 in Suclaran, Buenavista, Iloilo. Finishing university education, he entered the old pre-war PIC seminary where he at once impressed his tutor, Bishop Aglipay.

Joining the Army in 1937, Fr. Ga topped the First Chaplain Service School examination. He saw action in the Pacific War and was promoted on the spot to the rank of captain by the late General Douglas MacArthur. In 1946, he was promoted to major, then later to lieutenant colonel, a position he now holds with inactive status.

While he was on the battlefront, Fr. Ga was without his knowledge elected bishop by the Supreme Council of Bishops. He rose to prominence after the war and before he became Supreme Bishop he occupied almost every conceivable position in his Church including the prestigious presidency of the Supreme Council of Bishops.

Bishop Ga is a well-travelled leader having represented his Church on many occasions in international assemblies, a distinction he shares only with his predecessor. An ecumenical leader in his own right, he has held key positions in ecumenical bodies in the Philippines and abroad. He is a member of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches having been elected in New Delhi and reelected in Uppsala, Sweden. At home, he is the treasurer of the National Social Action Committee (NSAC), an inter-Church - government body for helping the underprivileged. He also was once First Vice National Chairman of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), the local version of the World Council of Churches. At present, he serves as Chairman of the Joint Council of the Episcopal Church and the Philippine Independent Church, the council that implements the terms of the concordat between the two Churches.