“Our ultimate goal is happiness. Heaven is not a place it is a state. Your entire goal is happiness. If you let go and let God and put everything in God. He will give you everything more than a hundredfold.”

This is what true happiness is to Bishop Antonieto Cabajog, DD, SVD. Have you ever heard of a SCUBA diving bishop? Would you believe that our Diocesan bishop himself is an afficionado of the sport? Surprising, isn’t it? It was his favorite pastime even during his childhood years and until now had it not been for his very hectic schedule. One time he went diving off the coast of an island in Cebu. People were curious as to what his group was doing. They waited until they finished the dive. The people asked him what he saw underwater. He answered, “God”. He told them he saw a lot of beautiful things. Nobody could have made those but only God.

He is Msgr. Antonieto Cabajog, D.D., SVD. Bishop Yet as he is fondly called. Born on the 10th of May 1956 in Cebu City, he is the only son in a family of four, having a sister who is a doctor.

On April 9, 1981, Bishop Yet was ordained priest at Loay, Bohol. After 18 years as a priest, he was ordained bishop at the Cathedral of Saint Joseph the Worker in Tagbilaran City at the age of 42, and first installed Auxiliary Bishop of Cebu on March 22, 1999. On July 24, 2001 he took a place in Surigao’s history as he became the 4th Bishop of Surigao.. His installation came after the previous bishop, Msgr. Miguel Cinchez retired after 28 years of faithful service to the Surigaonons. Presently, Bishop Yet is the Chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ of the Philippines (CBCP) Commission on Vocations. “I’m easy to approach, I take things from the perspective of what joy and lightheartedned is. I make it a point that people will be attracted to me so as to bring my message of Christ to them.” This is how Bishop Yet describes his own personality.

When asked if he found difficulties in entering the seminary, he says that one won’t find any difficulty if it’s really ones personal decision. But when the decision is impulsive, that’s the time one finds it hard to do. “It’s my own personal decision to enter the seminary when I was in high school, so I didn’t find any difficulties. You know if you let go of that, God will take care of everything.” Bishop Yet says he has a guilty conscience about God because he feels that God has given him so much and he has given Him a little in return of all the blessings he received from God, He believes that everything has a reason. As a bishop in Surigao, he is so thankful because the people have been very supportive, very warm, very cooperative and very religious, that is why he always sees it as a grace from God. “That makes me more guilty because I feel I have given Him a little of anything, ” he adds. Now that he’s on the verge of his aspiration of serving the people, I wonder how Bishop Yet will cope with all the pressing pressures and tensions that come his way considering that his job entails becoming a public figure and public property. As a bishop, he is the chief shepherd of the Diocese, the chief servant of the people. He dedicated himself to his commitment as a bishop despite the great responsibility attached to it that is why for him, he considers tensions as a normal reaction to life. His dedication and his faith in God, I believe, is what keeps him strong especially in his work that needs patience and perseverance.

“You do not choose whom to serve, no discriminations. You go out and search where there is dirt, brokeness, hatred and division.”

“We should be men of peace and not men of war.”