He is a member of Dominican Clerical Fraternity of the Philippines (DCFP), the
Sovereign Military Order of Malta and the
Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. He was the CEO of the
Tenth World Youth Day held in Manila in 1995 and the Fourth
World Meeting of Families in 2003. In August 2005, Villegas told
Filipino Catholics that they "cannot participate in any way or even attend religious or legal ceremonies that celebrate and legitimize homosexual unions".
Political involvement Villegas' views on social and political issues in the Philippines have not been without controversy, mainly regarding high-profile issues such as the
Reproductive Health Bill, the
re-imposition of death penalty (long-opposed by the Catholic Church),
human rights violations,
extrajudicial killings under the
administration of
President Rodrigo Duterte, and the
burial of dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the
Libingan ng mga Bayani ''(Heroes' Cemetery)''. Following the 31st Anniversary of the
1986 EDSA People Power Revolution on February 25, 2017, Villegas published a 'letter' to his mentor, Cardinal Jaime Sin, where he denounced corruption, extrajudicial killings, and the restoration of the Marcos family to political power under the Duterte administration. Villegas lamented that "the
dictator ousted by People Power is now buried among heroes. The
Lady of one thousand two hundred pairs of shoes is now Representative in Congress." Villegas' remarks were criticized by Duterte's daughter, then-
Davao City mayor
Sara Duterte, who described Villegas as "worse than a hundred President Dutertes". On July 19, 2019, the
PNP–
Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) filed charges against Villegas and members of the
opposition for "sedition, cyber libel, libel,
estafa, harboring a criminal, and
obstruction of justice". Members of the opposition, as well as local and international human rights groups including
Human Rights Watch and
Amnesty International, denounced the charges as a politically motivated move intended to silence criticism of Duterte and his presidency. The charges were eventually dropped because of lack of evidence. In regards to
vote buying, Villegas expressed the position that a voters who accept money from people to vote for certain politicians may not be necessarily committing a sin – if the voter does not fulfill their agreement even if they accept the money. Due to the
non-renewal of broadcast franchise application of ABS-CBN, Villegas expressed that the
network's issues could have been dealt in with proper proceedings and decried that shutting down from the airwaves, reminding the
Philippine government of the importance of free press in a democratic country. In October 2023, Villegas publicly stated that the
International Criminal Court (ICC) investigators should be allowed to probe into alleged extrajudicial killings and human rights abuses under Duterte's "war on drugs." Duterte would later become the first Filipino and Asian leader to be
arrested by the ICC on charges of crimes against humanity, following Interpol's enforcement of an ICC arrest warrant against Duterte in March 2025. In June 2025, Villegas criticized the
Senate of the Philippines for delaying the
impeachment trial of Sara Duterte, calling it a sin and a morally unacceptable move. He also denounced government procrastination, calling it a "a lack of diligence or commitment". ==Coat of arms==