Jesse Mercado

Jesse Eugenio Mercado is the first bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Parañaque.

Early life and education

Mercado was born on June 6, 1951, in Santa Cruz, Manila, and grew up in Caloocan. He studied at St. Joseph School and completed his philosophical and theological formation at the Jesuit-run San Jose Seminary. From 1981 to 1984, he took his licentiate in theology at the Pontifical [University of Saint Thomas Aquinas|Angelicum] in Rome.

Ministry

He was ordained to the priesthood on March 19, 1977, for the Archdiocese of Manila. There, he served as Assistant Parish Priest of San Isidro Labrador Parish in Pasay, Spiritual Director at the San Pablo Regional Seminary in Baguio City, Director of the Pre-College Department of the San Carlos Seminary, Professor of Theology at the San Carlos Seminary, Rector of the Holy Apostles Senior Seminary, and Rector of the Pontificio Collegio Filippino.

Episcopate

named him as Titular Bishop of Talaptula and Auxiliary Bishop of Manila on February 25, 1997, and was ordained on March 31 of the same year. As Auxiliary Bishop, he was assigned as District Bishop for Pasay-Parañaque-Las Piñas-Muntinlupa District.
Pope John Paul II subsequently appointed him as the first and founding bishop of the Diocese of Parañaque on December 7, 2002, and formally installed on January 28, 2003.