Joel Ocop Porlares is the current and fourteenth Obispo Máximo or Supreme Bishop of the Philippine Independent Church (Iglesia Filipina Independiente or IFI) since June 2023.

[2] Porlares was born in Tacloban City, Leyte on January 1, 1961, and was raised in Basey, Samar.

He served as a priest in the Dioceses of Greater Manila Area, Western Pangasinan, and Bataan and Bulacan, where he eventually became the diocesan bishop.

[4][5] He taught Canon Law and Church History at the Aglipay Central Theological Seminary (ACTS) in Urdaneta, Pangasinan, where he served as its academic coordinator in 1996 to 1999, and at St. Andrew's Theological Seminary in Quezon City.

[10][3] On June 29, 2023, the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, Porlares was installed as the 14th Obispo Máximo at the Iglesia Filipina Independiente National Cathedral of the Holy Child which was also attended by the IFI's ecumenical partner and concordat churches, including representatives from the Roman Catholic Church.