As a descendant of a World War II guerilla who fought under Col. Terry Adevoso in Rizal, I read with interest Juan L. Mercado’s likening of President Ferdinand Marcos’ fake war medals to the equally dubious academic honors which impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona had laid claim to. (Inquirer, 3/27/12)
If Corona can be so dishonest as to claim to have been an honor student of the Ateneo in grade school when in fact he was not, then it should come as no surprise that he has been deceitful in filing his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth.
Maybe it was fortunate for us Filipinos that three well-known batchmates of Corona, namely the late activist Edgar Jopson, now Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, and language maven Pete Lacaba, got the top honors in their class. For we may not have come to know the falsity of Corona’s claim to scholastic glory if lesser-known personalities had topped their class.
Maybe this is one of the deep-seated reasons why Corona is antagonistic toward Carpio. Maybe through the years, Corona cannot get over Carpio’s getting honors, while he (Corona) only had a gold in spelling to show.
Then, there’s Corona’s so-called doctorate in law about which I, as a graduate of the University of Santo Tomas, feel deeply ashamed for the reason that my alma mater handed it to him on a silver platter, without requiring him to submit and defend a dissertation.
—JAMES SANCHEZ,
james.jasie_jj@hotmail.ph