Bad taste on the part of UST officials leads to cheap shot

I WRITE in reference to two Inquirer articles: “UST break rules for CJ” (Inquirer, 1/1/12); and “UST: CJ earned PhD” (Inquirer, 1/2/12).

The undisputed facts established by the two articles:

1. UST admitted that there was no dissertation submitted by Chief Justice Renato Corona;

2. UST did not deny but virtually admitted that Corona finished his doctoral course in 10 years instead of seven years as required by its normal rules; it claimed instead that as an independent academic institution, it had the academic freedom to deviate from its own rules.

Ergo, it was very clear that Marites Dañguilan-Vitug was right in saying that UST broke its rules to accommodate Corona. Yet, UST denies that it broke the rules in conferring Corona with a doctoral degree, summa cum laude.

I do not understand how a supposedly reputable academic institution like UST can still claim that it did not break the rules in the face of these undisputed facts. That is clearly “double talk” if not an outright lie fed to the public. Contra factum non argumentum, against the facts, there could be no argument!

UST would have done better, if it just admitted the truth—that it suspended some rules in the case of Corona and it is well within its prerogative and “academic freedom” to do so.

It was also sort of bad taste for UST’s officials to question Vitug and Newsbreak and attack the Inquirer, instead of just responding to the issues. That was definitely a cheap shot.

—RAMSES SALES,

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