'Dumbfounded' Fr. Flavie on his RM award: 'I feel unworthy'

"I was dumbfounded," Fr. Flavie told me when I asked him how he felt when he was informed of the award, known to be Asia's equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize.

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He has remained fair by taking sides. No apologies. Fr. Flaviano Antonio "Flavie" Villanueva, fondly known as Fr. Flavie, is one of three recipients of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Awards this year, for "his lifelong mission to uphold the dignity of the poor and the oppressed, daily proving with unwavering faith that by serving the least of their brethren, all are restored."

"I even said, why me?" said Fr. Flavie, a member of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD), who established the Arnold Janssen Kalinga Center in Tayuman, Manila in 2015. Kalinga also means "Kain-Aral-Ligo-nang-umaayos." Fr. Flavie was also one of the most active clergymen against the previous government's war on drugs.

"There are other more great in spirit, more courageous and more intelligent, wiser," said the former missionary to East Timor.

But the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) emissary who broke the news to him said, "All the more you should accept, Father, because it shows that you're not making this about you. It's not about a person, but the mission."

Last Aug. 31, RMAF chairperson Edgar Chua announced the selection of Fr. Flavie as the newest addition to the roster of its 13 Catholic priest-recipients "whose ministries have gone far beyond the walls of their churches, leading movements for justice, guiding the lost and standing in the breach for the most vulnerable."

Once masquerading as a beggar himself ("disappointed" he only got P5 and on his third day on the streets) to experience the plight of beggars, Fr. Flavie still humbly calls himself a "recovering addict."

Deep into "substance" abuse decades ago, even after graduating from the San Juan de Letran and joining the corporate world, he finally sought help when he hit rock bottom. Alone for days fighting the demons of addiction with its chills, tears and fears, he found a balm for his deepest wounds during a solo retreat at the Munting Bukal in Tagaytay City.