Filipino missionary priest Fr. Flaviano “Flavie” Villanueva, SVD, has been named one of the 2025 Ramon Magsaysay Awardees, Asia’s highest honor often called the “Nobel Prize of Asia.”
Fr. Villanueva was cited for his “Paghilom” program, launched in 2016 to accompany widows, orphans, and families of victims of the Philippine drug war. The program offers grief counseling, livelihood and educational support, legal assistance, and dignified burials through the Dambana ng Paghilom.
The Award Foundation praised him for his prophetic denunciation of extrajudicial killingsand hisrelentless quest for justice, noting that despite death threats and sedition charges—later dismissed—he has remained steadfast in his mission to uphold life and dignity.
Villanueva also founded the Arnold Janssen Kalinga Center to serve Manila’s homeless with compassion and respect, offering food, shelter, hygiene, and pastoral care. His ministry, rooted in his own story of personal renewal, embodies the Gospel imperative to heal, restore, and accompany the most forgotten.
The recognition drew wide rejoicing from the Society of the Divine Word, whose Provincial Superior Michael Layugan and council affirm the honor as “a moment of great pride for the SVD family, especially in this Jubilee year of 150 years of Witnessing to the Light from everywhere to everyone.” They hailed Fr. Villanueva’s witness as “a living incarnation of our charism—rooted in Christ, transformed by the Eucharist, and walking with the poor as pilgrims of hope.”
Meanwhile, Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, also welcomed the award. “This recognition affirms his prophetic ministry among the poor, especially his courageous work of giving dignity to victims of extrajudicial killings and their families, and his tireless advocacy for human rights, justice, and compassion,” the Cardinal said.
Across local SVD media platforms, greetings poured in from confreres, mission partners, and lay collaborators—an outpouring not only of joy but also of deep gratitude and pride that one of their own has been recognized internationally for embodying the missionary call.
The 67th Ramon Magsaysay Awards will be formally conferred on November 7, 2025, at the Metropolitan Theater in Manila.
PHC Notes Editor
