Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas has been the Metropolitan Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan since his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI on September 8, 2009. Due to the sudden death of the Bishop of San Fernando de La Union, he was also appointed Apostolic Administrator of the vacant see from November 16, 2011 until October 11, 2012 in a concurrent capacity. Prior to his assignment in Lingayen, Dagupan he served as Bishop of Balanga from 2004 until his transfer to his current see. He was Auxiliary Bishop of Manila from August 31, 2001 until his transfer to Balanga. He was ordained as a priest on October 5, 1985 and consecrated as a bishop on August 31, 2001 by the late Jaime Cardinal Sin whom he served as private secretary for 18 years. Prior to his appointment as bishop, he was the first rector of the EDSA Shrine. He was also president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines from 2013 to 2017. He was past chairman of the Episcopal Commission for Catechesis and Catholic Education of the CBCP and formerly a member of the Pontifical Council for the Family of the Holy See. He is a professed member of the Secular Franciscan Order and a novice in the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Dominic in the Philippines. He was a synodal father in the Synod of Bishops of 2012 and 2014. In the secular field, he was one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines in the year 2000 and a Catholic Authors Awardee in 1994. The Bataan Peninsula State University conferred upon him a Doctor of Humanities degree "Honoris Causa" in recognition of his work for the Province of Bataan. He authored nine books of homilies and spiritual meditations. He had his primary education at Pateros Elementary School, his secondary education at Pateros Catholic School and his tertiary at Colegio de San Juan de Letran. He studied for the priesthood at the San Carlos Seminary with an M.A. in Theological Studies. The youngest of the three children of Emiliano Villegas and Norma Buenaventura who both hail from Pateros, he was born on September 28, 1960.
Villegas is also a very controversial figure in the Philippines due to his many involvements in politics. Among them are his stances on political issues like RH Bill, the re-imposition of death penalty, alleged human rights violations, killing of criminals, extrajudicial killings under the Duterte administration, and the Marcos burial at LNMB. His statements on the 31st anniversary of EDSA 1986 has also earned more ire not only from the Filipinos but also from Rodrigo Duterte's daughter, current Davao City mayorSara Duterte-Carpio, who has coined Villegas as "worse than a hundred President Dutertes". On July 19, 2019, the PNP–Criminal Investigation and Detection Group filed charges against Villegas and members of the opposition for "sedition, cyber libel, libel, estafa, harboring a criminal, and obstruction of justice". The charges were eventually dropped because of lack of evidence.
Coat of arms
The two sides of the coat of arms are divided by a TAU cross in the middle. The sinister side is the personal seal of the archbishop. The dexter side is the seal of the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan.
