On 8 September 2012, Pope Benedict XVI accepted his retirement as Metropolitan Archbishop of Caceres, and named Bishop Rolando Joven Tria Tirona, OCD, as Archbishop-elect.

[citation needed] In 1960, he joined the Dominican Order, and in the following year he received a Licentiate of Sacred Theology (S.T.L.)

Later, he was installed in Solemn Ceremonies as the 33rd Bishop and 3rd Archbishop of the Caceres at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist, Naga City, on 18 January 1984.

In 1987, he openly gave sermons that denounced the violence committed by members of the New People's Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, and was assigned bodyguards in late December after receiving death threats.

[4] On his 37th episcopal anniversary and Feast of Saint Dominic, 8 August 2014, Legaspi died at age 78 on 5:00 a.m. at the University of Santo Tomas Hospital of lung cancer.