Now he has one
He cannot become more President. He is already at maximum President. There’s no President of all Presidents, nor a new and improved Bongbong with more iron. We checked.
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He cannot become more President. He is already at maximum President. There’s no President of all Presidents, nor a new and improved Bongbong with more iron. We checked.
Bongbong is now a doctor. A Doctor of Laws. From PLM. Out of nowhere.
Perhaps it’s what happens when you’re President and people run out of things to give you.
Maybe some genius at PLM went, “What does the President still not have?”
“A degree.”
Ouch!
An Oxford special diploma, not a bachelor’s. Wharton studies, no MBA. Now a Doctor of Laws, without the law school.
That’s quite the academic comeback.
So now we have Dr. Bongbong President. So what can he do with it? Nothing?
He cannot become more President. He is already at maximum President. There’s no President of all Presidents, nor a new and improved Bongbong with more iron. We checked.
Maybe Bongbong is not a bad President. Fine. But since when did “not a bad President” deserve a doctorate?
Look around. This is not a country looking back on a golden age. The man is still in the middle of the job, if at all.
He has not transformed the Philippines. Has not ended corruption, floods, fixed agriculture, education. Why then was he honored for what he has done as President when his presidency isn’t even done yet?
Did Bongbong do anything so historically extraordinary that generations will study it? Something that is supposed to say: “Mr. Bongbong. You have contributed something so extraordinary that, although you did not pursue this academic path, we consider you part of this intellectual community?”
Because an honorary doctorate should not mean: “You seem to be doing OK, sir.”
So what was it? What did Bongbong do that was so exceptional that a plaque or a thank you, maybe a nice dinner, would have been an insult?
Please do not say it recognizes his “service to the nation.” He’s the President. Service to the nation is the expectation.
You could have picked almost anything. You have “Doctor of Public Service.” You have Liza who actually taught law at PLM if that’s a Marcos for you. Someone who studied law. Taught law. Somehow the Doctor of Laws goes to Bongbong.
Very interesting choice. Especially at PLM. The same PLM that has Lili Hilao in its institutional history. A student. Campus journalist. Arrested and killed during Martial Law.
So help us out. You’re looking at PLM history, looking at the august legacy, looking at what a Doctor of Laws is supposed to represent, and you land on Bongbong Marcos?
Nobody gives a sitting President an honorary degree because he needs help becoming important. He is already the President.
Imagine Bongbong going home and hanging the doctorate on the wall. Beside what? The presidential seal? “Very proud of this one.”
So what is it? Because he supposedly gave you a building?
The building isn’t even a law building. It’s a health sciences building. It’s like saying, “Mr. President, thank you for giving us the privilege of hosting you, beef or chicken?” but you prefer law.
You know what? If somebody helps us put up a building, we’re not giving him a Doctor of Laws. We’re asking him for more. That’s how it works.
We don’t know who deserves the honorary degree more, the President or the taxpayer. They’ve been funding this whole education system their entire lives, maybe they deserve the doctorate.
At least they actually paid for it.
