FORMER UST vice rector for religious affairs Fr. Filemon dela Cruz, Jr., O.P. was reelected as the prior provincial of the Dominican Province of the Philippines on Jan. 16.
Dela Cruz’s election was held during the 13th provincial chapter at the UST Santa Rosa and was confirmed by the Master of the Order of the Preachers Fr. Gerard Timoner III, O.P., the University’s chancellor, on the same day.
Dela Cruz, who served as prior provincial from 2021 to 2025, will take on the same role in a second four-year term until 2029.
“In his first term as Prior Provincial from 2021 to 2025, he guided and journeyed with his brothers during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Now, he will guide his brothers for four fresh years, filled with hope, providentially beginning in the Jubilee Year of Hope 2025,” the Dominican Province of the Philippines wrote in a Facebook post.
He graduated from the Philippine Dominican Center of Institutional Studies in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy. He also completed a bachelor’s degree in Sacred Theology in 1989 and master’s degree in Theology in 2006, both in UST.
As prior provincial, dela Cruz also serves as UST’s ex-officio vice chancellor and chair of its board of trustees, whose roles include appointing University officials with the approval of the chancellor and participating in meetings of the council of regents and the academic senate.
Dela Cruz is also an instructor at the UST Faculty of Sacred Theology. In the previous years, he served as vicar provincial of the Dominican Province of the Philippines and head of the UST Campus Ministry.
A prior provincial is the regional superior among a number of monasteries. The election of a prior provincial requires the approbation of the prior general, a superior of the whole order.
The Dominican Province of the Philippines, the 41st province of the Roman Catholic Order of Preachers, was established during the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1971. The religious group also partners with countries Sri Lanka and Indonesia. F
