The addict turned priest who fought the 'war on drugs'

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Flaviano Villanueva, known as Father Flavie, is a Filipino priest who was awarded the 2025 Ramon Magsaysay Award, Asia’s highest honour, for "his lifelong mission to uphold the dignity of the poor and the oppressed". He works with homeless people on the streets of Manila, where he provides dignified care, showers, and – as he says Filipinos would want it – a buffet with unlimited rice. But Father Flavie did not, at first, feel worthy of the priesthood. He has always been open about what he calls his “sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll” past. After giving up drugs he found himself at a crossroads, unsure whether to get married, go back to his corporate job or join the seminary – and that's what he chose. He struggled with aspects of life as a trainee priest, especially household chores, but fell in love with theology. Political events sent his life down yet another path. In 2016, a year after Father Flavie began working with homeless people, Rodrigo Duterte was elected president after declaring war on the Philippines’ illegal drug problem. Immediately, suspected drug dealers began to be killed in controversial police operations and by hitmen, in what human rights groups describe as extra-judicial killings. By the end of Duterte’s presidency six years later, officially more than 6,000 people died – but human rights groups put the number of dead in the tens of thousands. Father Flavie saw it as a war on the poor. A former addict, he favours a health-based approach to addiction. And he saw the violence affecting the people he cared for directly. He realised then that feeding the homeless was not enough, and "compassion had to grow some teeth". His vocal opposition to the “war on drugs” earned him threats and legal challenges, but that didn't stop him. As well as offering support to more than 300 families left bereaved by the drug war, Father Flavie began collecting evidence in the hope that one day those events would be examined in court. Then he realised that the dead had stories to tell, too. This episode contains references to exhumation and post-mortems. Excerpts from Father Flavie's speech courtesy of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Vibeke Venema Get in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707 (Photo: Father Flavie, smiling, in front of a painting showing his work with widows and orphans. Credit: Nestor Corrales/BBC)