Duterte on doctorate award: No, thanks

President Duterte on Wednesday put a quick end to a controversy that had arisen from news that the University of the Philippines would confer on him an honorary doctor of laws degree by “declining” the proposed award.

Speaking to reporters in Bohol province, Mr. Duterte said it had always been his policy to say no to awards.

“With due respect to the University of the Philippines, I do not accept, even when I was mayor,” he said. “As a matter of personal and official policy, I do not accept awards. It’s not in my nature.”

Not ‘rejection’

Mr. Duterte refused to describe his decision not to accept an award from UP as rejection. “To use the word ‘reject’ is not good. I simply ‘decline,’” he said.

Earlier this year, as he accepted a “Man of the Year” award from a Manila newspaper, Mr. Duterte mentioned that he did not usually accept awards and did not want to be rewarded for things he was paid to do.

UP Board of Regents chair Patricia Licuanan, who also heads the Commission on Higher Education, said on Tuesday that UP would confer a doctor of laws degree, honoris causa, on Mr. Duterte in keeping with its tradition of giving such honors to Philippine Presidents.

Licuanan said Mr. Duterte had not yet accepted the offer.

Just a plan

Student regent Raoul Manuel confirmed the information, but said it remained “a plan at this point.”

The board discussed the award during its meeting on April 5. It was decided that the award would not be announced until Mr. Duterte had accepted the offer.

News of the award revolted the UP community, with students, faculty and graduates protesting the plan and saying Mr. Duterte should instead be called to account for the thousands of extrajudicial killings in his brutal war on drugs.

Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te also protested the award, saying on Wednesday that the accolade should not be given to somebody who had “encouraged impunity and weakened the rule of law.”

Uproar expected

Te said he was expressing his personal view as a taxpayer, a graduate and former faculty member of UP.

Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella shrugged off the uproar.

“That’s to be expected,” he told a news briefing in Malacañang on Wednesday.

Abella spoke ahead of Mr. Duterte’s announcement of his decision in Bohol.

Asked whether Mr. Duterte would accept the award, Abella said he saw no reason for the President to reject it, though the President was not after such awards.

“It would be quite an honor to receive that, but it’s not something he’s angling for,” Abella said.

He added that Mr. Duterte would continue to work hard even without awards.

Just allegations

Commenting on the opposition from the UP community, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said there was no reason to oppose UP’s offer because nothing had been proven against Mr. Duterte.

“The allegations on human rights violations remain just that, allegations. The ground for the opposition therefore is baseless as it is misplaced,” Panelo said. —WITH REPORTS FROM JHESSET ENANO AND MARLON RAMOS