The University of the Philippines (UP) plans to confer an honorary degree on Senator Mark Villar, the UP Office of the Student Regent (OSR) has revealed.
In a tweet posted Monday (January 23), the OSR shared a letter it sent to the UP Board of Regents (BOR) opposing the conferment of the degree on Villar.
The student regent is the sole representative of over 50,000 UP students to the BOR, the state university’s highest decision making body.
“I would like to register my dissenting vote on the conferment of an honorary degree to Sen. Mark Villar,” Student Regent Siegfred Severino said in the letter.
Severino said that when the BOR discussed the prospect of granting an honorary degree to Villar, he was informed that the matter was not yet final and the board was still waiting for the senator’s response.
“I was hoping that once Sen. M. Villar gave his answer, the Board will be duly informed and a final decision will be made and will be entered into the minutes of a Board Meeting. However, this has not been the case,” he said.
Severino said that despite Villar’s contributions to UP as a former secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), his “character” must also be considered in discussions on whether or not he deserves an honorary degree.
“Several issues of land-grabbing and development aggression hound their family’s reputation and his stint as the Secretary of DPWH exacerbated these key issues,” the student regent said.
Severino said conferring an honorary degree on Villar will be tantamount to UP sweeping the issues against the senator’a family under the rug.
Villar’s family is one of the wealthiest in the country. His father, Manny, is the richest man in the Philippines with an estimated net worth of nearly $7.9 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
“I believe the character of those we confer an honorary degree to will be based not only on their contribution to the University, but also the public character they have outside and to the People we are mandated to serve,” Severino said.
Villar earned his undergraduate degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and his master’s degree in business administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
His parents– Manny and Senator Cynthia Villar– meanwhile, are UP graduates.
In 2016, the Villars donated a five-hectare property to UP in Dasmariñas, Cavite for a new campus.
