THE UNIVERSITY must form graduates who think critically and use their conscience and education to restore dignity in a “fragmented and morally collapsing society,” a Divine Word priest and human rights advocate said during the 58th St. Thomas More Lecture on Feb. 3.
Fr. Flaviano Villanueva, recipient of the 2025 Ramon Magsaysay Award for his work with victims of the Duterte administration’s drug war campaign, said dignity is not merely for the privileged but is intrinsic to all.
“May dangal ang tao. Dignity is not something earned. It is not the prize for good behavior. It is not the privilege [of] the educated, the wealthy, or the powerful. Dignity is intrinsic, relational, and God-given,” he said.
Villanueva told Thomasians to let their conscience “disturb them toward the good,” cautioning them that disregard of human dignity could lead to moral collapse within society.
“When a university forms people who can see truly, think critically, choose courageously, remember faithfully, and care deeply, then it does not only produce professionals, it helps shape a fragmented society,” he said.
“Wherever dignity is denied, moral collapse begins, and this is what happened to us, beginning especially in 2016. Moral collapse begins when we deny a person’s life,” he added.
Villanueva was recognized by the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation for his contributions to “restoring dignity and hope among the underserved,” particularly among the families and victims of extrajudicial killings during the “war on drugs” under Rodrigo Duterte, who was president from 2016 to 2022.
Duterte is now detained and awaiting trial for crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands.
Drawing from his experience and recovery as a former substance abuser, Villanueva initiated the “Paghilom” program, which offered financial and legal help to families left by victims of the drug war.
The program was behind the construction of the “Dambana ng Paghilom” in Caloocan City, housing the remains of 111 drug war victims.
In 2015, the priest founded the Arnold Janssen Kalinga Center, a nonprofit organization that provides food and shower facilities to the homeless. The organization has helped multiple students enroll in the alternative learning system education program.
Villanueva became a religious-missionary priest of the Societas Verbi Divini Society in 2006. He was appointed to lead the order’s Justice and Peace Integrity Commission in 2014.
Arts and Letters Dean Melanie Turingan encouraged students and educators to live with properly formed consciences and values.
“As we lead the lives of our students, let us all be like our patron saint, St. Thomas More, to make use of our voices to be their anchor to see the importance of character, humanity, and a life filled with joy and gratitude to the Almighty,” she said during her opening message.
The St. Thomas More Lecture is a yearly lecture series established in 1968 by Prof. Ophelia Alcantara Dimalanta and Prof. Piedad Guinto Rosales, who became Artlets dean and assistant dean, respectively, to honor the faculty’s patron saint.
Lectures were previously given by former presidents Corazon Aquino and Diosdado Macapagal, former senator Jovito Salonga, and National Artist Bienvenido Lumbera.
This year’s lecture carried the theme “Conscience in Action: Human Dignity, Moral Courage and the Politics of Care.”
