Mindanao bishops Odchimar and Pacana die on same day, 2 hours apart

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews)—Two Mindanao bishops passed on on Thursday, February 1—Tandag Bishop Emeritus Nereo Odchimar at 10:27 a.m. and Malaybalay Bishop Emeritus Honesto Pacana at 12:33 p.m.

Last month, two Mindanao bishops also passed away, the 57-year old Pagadian Bishop Ronald Lunas on January 2 and the 89-year old Davao Archbishop Emeritus Fernando Capalla on January 6.

Odchimar, 83, President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) from 2009 to 2011, passed away at the San Pedro Hospital in Davao City.

The Diocese of Tandag said he had been suffering from diabetes and kidney complications and “died of metabolic encephalopathy due to end-stage renal disease and diabetic nephropathy.”

Pacana, 91, of the Society of Jesus, died at the Maria Reyna-Xavier University Hospital in Cagayan de Oro City. The Diocese of Malaybalay said Bishop Onie, as Pacana was called, “survived prostate cancer but succumbed to heart failure.”

Odchimar was born on October 16, 1940, in Bacuag, Surigao del Norte. He was ordained priest on December 19, 1964 and was appointed as second bishop of the Diocese of Tandag on October 18, 2001. He retired on February 26, 2018.

According to the social media post of the Diocese of Tandag, Odchimar, whose episcopal moto was “Duc in Altum” (Put out into the deep), served the Diocese “with utmost zeal and dedication.”

“He continued to uphold the diocesan stand in protecting the integrity of environment against illegal logging and mining. He extended the work of evangelization by creating mission station, devotional chapel, quasi-parishes and parishes, and conducting pastoral visits reaching the far-flung areas of the diocese,” it said.

Odchimar “also commenced to put in place the financial management system of the diocese and also initiated to build the new San Nicolas de Tolentino Cathedral.”

In its social media post, the Diocese of Malaybalay said that since 2010, Bishop Pacana lived at his requested retirement home which he called “Payag” (hut) near the St. John XXIII College Seminary in Malaybalay City but moved to the Missionary Congregation of Mary Central House at Impalambong, in the same city, in October 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic “for facility in monitoring his health especially in times of emergencies.”

Bishop Pacana was born on January 22, 1933 in Barangay Kauswagan, Cagayan de Oro City, the youngest of seven children of Vicente Pacana and Felisa Chaves.