Over 700 Guests Witness 2025 Ramon Magsaysay Awards at Manila’s Metropolitan Theater

The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) formally conferred the 2025 Ramon Magsaysay Awards to Fr. Flaviano Antonio L. Villanueva from the Philippines, the Foundation to Educate Girls Globally from India, and Shaahina Ali from the Maldives during the 67th Ramon Magsaysay Presentation Ceremony held on November 7, 2025, at the Metropolitan Theater in Manila, Philippines. 

The evening drew over 700 guests, including government officials, members of the diplomatic corps, civil society organizations, and academics, who witnessed the presentation of the Ramon Magsaysay Award medallions and certificates to this year’s recipients, symbols of Asia’s premier prize and highest honor for integrity and selfless service.

Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, attended the event. 

RMAF Chairperson Edgar O. Chua stated, “These Ramon Magsaysay Awardees remind us of what President Ramon Magsaysay stood for, that leadership is not measured by power, but by purpose; that real change lies not in what we gain, but in what we give. They show us that every life, every living organism, no matter how humble, deserves dignity, love, and grace.”

Delivering this year’s congratulatory message, Ananda Galappatti, a Sri Lankan clinical psychologist and community mental health advocate who received the 2008 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership, expressed admiration for the 2025 Ramon Magsaysay Awardees and reflected on the continuing relevance of compassionate leadership in today’s world. He remarked,

“Through their vital work, Fr. Flaviano Antonio L. Villanueva, Shaahina Ali, and the Foundation to Educate Girls Globally are responding to some of the greatest challenges that we face today in our families and communities across Asia, and also globally. The harms caused by violence and persecution, by systemic exclusion and structural inequality, and by the exploitation and damage to our shared ecosystems and planet are at the heart of much of the human suffering that we see in our world today.”

The 2025 Ramon Magsaysay Awardees, in their responses, shared gratitude and reaffirmed their dedication to serving their communities. Representing the Foundation to Educate Girls Globally, or Educate Girls, from India, which has empowered millions of young women through education, its founder, Safeena Husain, shared,

“This win is dedicated to the hard work of the Educate Girls’ current and past team members, and especially our field coordinators, who go door to door to find every single girl who is not going to school. Volunteers, who have worked with us since inception, to brought over 2 million girls back to school. They inspire us daily with their motto, ‘Mera Gaon, Meri Samasya, aur Main hi Samadhan,’ which means ‘My village, my problem, and I am the solution.’”

From the Maldives, Shaahina Ali emphasized the urgency of protecting marine ecosystems and empowering coastal communities. She said,

“Working closely with a team of marine biologists became a turning point in my life. [....] I began to understand how these tiny organisms, which create something so powerful and beautiful, could become victims of climate change, often without many of us ever realizing the deep, symbiotic connection between the ocean and all life, including our own.”

Father Flaviano Antonio L. Villanueva from the Philippines, known for his work restoring dignity to victims of injustice, said,

“When I first learned of this Award, I simply grew quiet, and I realized, this honor was never about me, but about the many lives and hands that gave it meaning: the homeless man and woman who asked not for food but for dignity, the mother who searched for her son taken by violence, and the volunteers who show up each day with open hearts. This honor belongs to them.”

The medallions and certificates were presented by RMAF Chairman Edgar Chua and Francisco Magsaysay, grandson of President Ramon Magsaysay, in a symbolic moment linking generations of service and leadership. The evening served as a fitting culmination of the Foundation’s celebration of the greatness of spirit and transformative leadership that remain vital in a rapidly changing world. Through the stories and works of its 2025 Ramon Magsaysay Awardees, the Ramon Magsaysay Award continues to champion hope, integrity, and compassion through selfless service to the peoples of Asia.