Gabriel Reyes

Gabriel Martelino Reyes (March 24, 1892 – October 10, 1952) was the 28th archbishop of Manila, and the first native Filipino to hold that post.

He entered St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary in Jaro, Iloilo City at the age of 13, during the time of Bishop Frederick Rooker.

As the parish priest of this town, he covered sixteen small islands with neither roads, chapels nor convents but only ruins amidst an increasing number of Aglipayan and Protestant churches.

He received his episcopal consecration in the Cathedral of Jaro, on October 11, 1932, from the Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop Guillermo Piani, S.D.B., with Mons.

[2] On April 28, 1934, after more than three centuries, the Diocese of Cebu was elevated by Pope Pius XI into an archdiocese, with Gabriel Reyes as the first archbishop.

[2] On August 25, 1949, he was appointed by Pope Pius XII as coadjutor to Archbishop Michael O’Doherty of Manila with right of succession (and apostolic administrator sede plena).

He established parochial schools, and the Cebu archdiocesan officer newspaper Diaro-Kabuhi Sang Banua.

In December 2015, the monument was transferred to a new location in the Kalibo Pastrana Park which was formally turned over by the Archbishop Gabriel Reyes Memorial Foundation to the local government of Kalibo on October 10, 2016, coinciding with his 64th death anniversary and the foundation's 39th anniversary.