A Filipino priest in the US has been appointed as vicar general and chancellor of the Diocese of San Jose in California.

With his new role, Fr. Andres Ligot will serve as the right-hand man to Bishop Oscar Cantu.

Every diocese throughout the Catholic Church is required to have at least one vicar general, and it is the highest-ranking official in the diocesan governance after the bishop.

Born and raised in the city of Laoag, the priest is a nephew of the late Bishop Victorino Ligot of San Fernando de La Union.

Ligot came to the Diocese of San Jose in 1999 after obtaining his Doctorate in Canon Law from the University of Navarre in Pamplona, Spain.

It is also the same university where he finished his Bachelor of Sacred Theology and his Licentiate in Canon Law.

Ligot was ordained priest for the Diocese of Laoag in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican by St. Pope John Paul II in June 1992.

In San Jose, he started his ministry at the diocese’s tribunal, first as the “defender of the bond” and later as a judge.

In 2005, he was made pastor of Saint Lawrence the Martyr Parish in Santa Clara, a city near San Jose. In 2008, he was appointed Judicial Vicar in a concurrent capacity and later worked full time at the tribunal.