The UP BOR has offered Pres. Duterte Doctor of Laws degree.
DUTERTE – Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte was offered Doctor of Law degree by the University of the Philippines Board of Regents (BOR).
Based on a recent news report in Inquirer, the 72-year-old President was offered Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, degree just like the other previous Chief Executives of the country.
According to Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chairperson Patricia Licuanan, it is already a part of the tradition that is why the BOR has offered the degree to Pres. Duterte.
Together with the university’s President Danilo Concepcion, Licuanan chairs the BOR – the highest body in the university when it comes to constructing policies.
Based on the news report, it is usually during the first year of the term of a president that the university would offer the said degree.
During the 2011 UP Diliman graduation, former Pres. Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III attended the event as the commencement speaker. It was also during that time that the degree was bestowed upon him.
In a text message sent to the source, the CHED chairperson who also chairs the BOR expressed that Pres. Duterte has not yet accepted the honorary doctorate degree offered to him by the University’s BOR.
On the other side, based on the news report, former student regent Cleve Arguelles was disappointed by the move of the University and took to the social media his side.
“The only honorary degree that the University of the Philippines should confer to President Duterte: Doctor of Crimes Against Humanity,” Arguelles stated.
Speaking to the source, the former student regent expressed that it is an “insult” to the University to grant the “highest academic honor” to a leader of the country who is linked to numerous deaths.