(Philstar.com photo)
An independent student newspaper at Princeton University released an article entitled “Filipino governor, Senate candidate falsely claims to have graduated from U,” in response to claims that Philippine Senate candidate Imee Marcos received a degree from the institution.
According to the article, published on Tuesday, February 26, Marcos is “a Filipino governor that has stirred up controversy recently after falsely claiming that she graduated from the University” in 1979.
The Ilocos Norte governor, also known as the daughter of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, had enrolled at the university in 1973, but “no record shows that she graduated,” the report said.
The report revealed how Marcos was persistent in making the public believe that she indeed received a degree in the Ivy League university. She even included the detail in her curriculum vitae as a lawmaker.
“Marcos’ biography on her official Facebook account states that she is ‘one of the first female graduates from an Ivy League School — Princeton University, graduating with honors,’” the report stated.
“The 63-year-old former representative for the Philippine House of Representatives also included this information in her official curriculum vitae during her time in the Philippine House of Representatives,” it added.
The Daily Princetonian also reported that “On February 14, Marcos posted photographs of an invitation to the Class of 1979 reunions to her Facebook account. The validity of the invitation, which was dated August 2018, has not been confirmed.”
The university paper sought the confirmation of the Ivy League school itself. As a response: “Deputy University Spokesperson Michael Hotchkiss wrote that Marcos attended from fall 1973 to spring 1976 and returned again for fall 1977 to spring 1979.”
However, Hotchkiss highlighted the fact that despite the records that Marcos’ had an independent concentration in Religion and Politics, the records do not show that Marcos was awarded a degree.
The article, written by Karolen Eid, incorporated a narrative of what the situation was like back when the senatorial candidate was a student at Princeton. Eid revealed a letter from the Philippine Consul General Ernesto Pineda addressed to Dean of Student Affairs Adele Simmons dated July 30, 1973.
“Pineda described different accommodations that would be arranged for Marcos. She would live off campus, be escorted by Philippine security personnel, and be driven to and from campus by a Filipino chauffeur,” Eid wrote.
The newspaper also emphasized that the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines had an impact on the living conditions of the female Marcos in the United States. It also posed a danger since the “presence of Marcos and her security personnel would be threatening to students who were critical of her father’s dictatorship.”
“When Marcos first enrolled in the University, her father was a dictator ruling under martial law in the Philippines. Records show that Marcos was not an average student during her time at the University,” the newspaper stated.
It added, “The Marcos family has also been involved in several scandals throughout the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos from 1965 to 1986 and the political careers of his children. In the 2015 leak of the Panama Papers, Imee Marcos was listed as a beneficiary of offshore holdings belonging to the family.”
The paper requested a statement from Marcos, however, her camp had yet to respond to the request by the time the article was published.
