The 39th anniversary of the People Power Revolution on Tuesday was marked with a unique celebration — the episcopal ordination of Bishop Rufino “Jun” Sescon Jr.
Sescon, 52, served as an aide to the late Cardinal Jaime Sin, the former archbishop of Manila and a key figure in the 1986 peaceful uprising that ended Ferdinand Marcos Sr’s dictatorial rule.
The new bishop explained that he chose to be ordained on this date “as a form of prayer for generosity that I may never forget, that we may never forget” the Edsa spirit.
“I pray that we may never forget that to be a good Christian, a good priest, a good bishop is to also give ourselves to become a good citizen, vigilant to truth, justice, integrity, freedom and peace,” Sescon said after his ordination.
“A pro-God person is also pro-country,” he stressed, drawing applause from the congregation. “We should be pro-country because we are pro-God.”
The Edsa spirit, according to him, continues because the people’s faith impels them to be generous as to become the conscience of society.
“It was not only people power but prayer power,” said Sescon, former rector of Quiapo Church.
“When genuine faith, patriotism, selflessness, the common good, and unity — genuine unity — pervade among us, against tyranny, dishonesty, corruption, and injustice, miracles will happen,” he added. “There is grace upon grace, unending grace.”
Sescon was ordained by Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, who also served as an aide to Cardinal Sin before becoming a bishop. The co-consecrators were Bishop Ruperto Santos of Antipolo and retired Bishop Honesto Ongtioco of Cubao.
Villegas, Santos and Ongtioco previously served as bishops of Balanga in Bataan province.
Pope Francis appointed Sescon, who was ordained priest for the Archdiocese of Manila, as the new leader of the Balanga diocese in December 2024. He will succeed Bishop Santos, who was transferred to Antipolo diocese in 2003.
Sescon will be formally installed as the fifth bishop of Balanga during Mass at the Cathedral Shrine and Parish of St. Joseph in Balanga City on March 1.
