Duterte declines UP honorary degree

 Entertainment
Apr 222017
 
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte leads the unveiling of the marker of the Metro Manila Crisis Monitoring and Management Center (MMCMMC) of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) during its inauguration at the MMDA Metrobase in Makati City on April 4, 2017. (MNS photo)

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte leads the unveiling of the marker of the Metro Manila Crisis Monitoring and Management Center (MMCMMC) of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) during its inauguration at the MMDA Metrobase in Makati City on April 4, 2017. (MNS photo)

MANILA, April 19 (PNA) – President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday politely declined to accept the offer of an honorary degree from the University of the Philippines (UP), saying that accepting awards is not in his personality.

“With due respect sa University of the Philippines, I do not accept even when I was mayor. Hindi ako tumatanggap, I do not… As a matter of personal and official policy, I do not accept awards. Wala sa pagkatao ko,” the President told reporters following the ASEAN security briefing in Tagbilaran City, Bohol.

“Hindi ko naman nire-reject. But I… To use the word reject is not good. I simply declined,” Duterte said.

The UP Board of Regents (BOR), the university’s highest policy making body, is reportedly keen on conferring Duterte the honorary doctor of laws degree as part of tradition.

However, some sectors are opposing the move due to alleged human rights violations in the campaign against drugs.

Earlier, Malacañang said that President Duterte was not angling for any awards but might accept the honorary degree if offered.

Following the development, Duterte became the third president to decline the conferment.

Former presidents Joseph Estrada and Gloria-Macapagal Arroyo have both declined honorary degrees from UP.

Lacson: Yolanda-hit areas rehabilitated before PNoy's term ends in June 2016

 News
Dec 012013
 
Lacson: Yolanda-hit areas rehabilitated before PNoy's term ends in June 2016

Fresh from being installed as the new “rehabilitation czar,” Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Monday assured that areas hit by super typhoon Yolanda would be rehabilitated within the next three years, before President Benigno Aquino III’s term ends.  Speaking to reporters at a “kapihan” at the Diamond Hotel in Manila, Lacson said he had already consulted with architects, egineers, urban planners, and lawyers, who told him that rehabilitating Visayas and other areas struck by Yolanda would be “difficult but doable.” “Sa 2016, iyon ang best efforts ko from nasa notes ko [during consultation with experts]. Puwede ba i-complete within the term of PNoy [Aquino]? Sabi nila [experts], doable,” said Lacson, who became Philippine National Police Chief during the presidential term of Joseph Estrada  before becoming a senator. “Siyempre hindi daw completely sure pero doable… If I can accomplish 85 or 90 percent, okay na iyon for me,” Lacson said. —KG, GMA News

Manila mayor Joseph Estrada to apologize over Hong Kong deaths

 News
Oct 232013
 
Manila mayor Joseph Estrada to apologize over Hong Kong deaths

In this file photo taken on August 23, 2010, Philippine policemen take position as they start their attack on a hijacked tourist bus in Manila. AFP FILE PHOTO MANILA – Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada will formally apologize over the deaths of eight Hong Kong tourists in a 2010 hostage crisis, an aide said Wednesday, despite President Aquino insisting none should be given. Estrada, a graft-tainted ex-president who was elected mayor of Manila in May, will go to Hong Kong this week to present the apology in the form of a resolution passed by the city council, a city official said. A formal apology has been one of the long-standing demands by the Hong Kong government over the deaths of the eight tourists in Manila in August 2010 after they were taken hostage by a disgruntled Filipino policeman. “There is an admission of a bungled operation. The city of Manila is being more candid now,” Luch Gempis, secretary of the Manila city council, told AFP. Philippine authorities have acknowledged that police and other authorities mishandled the hostage situation. But President Aquino has consistently refused to make a formal apology on behalf of the national government, insisting the deaths were primarily caused by the actions of the hostage taker. The lack of an apology, as well as a refusal to pay compensation, has caused deep tensions between Hong Kong and the Philippines. Aquino reiterated on Wednesday that no national government apology would be given. “The act of one individual should not be Read More …