FACT-CHECK: Imee Marcos did not graduate from UP College of Law

Aug 12, 2022 | Fact Checked by PressOnePH

: A Twitter user repeated the false claim that Sen. Imee Marcos finished her law degree at the University of the Philippines in Diliman.  

CLAIM: Sen. Imee Marcos finished her law degree at the University of the Philippines and her graduation photos are proof

RATING: FALSE

 

A Twitter user, Joel Garcia, repeated the claim that Sen. Imee Marcos finished her Bachelor of Laws degree at the University of the Philippines (UP).  He showed photos of the senator’s parents, the late dictator and kleptocrat Ferdinand Marcos Sr., and her mother, then first lady Imelda Marcos, in attendance at her graduation ceremony.

The claim that Imee Marcos finished her law degree at UP is FALSE.

An archived copy of her curriculum vitae also made that same false claim.

However, former UP executive vice president, Dr. Ted Herbosa, said Marcos did not finish a degree from the university. In an email response to ABS-CBN News and Rappler, Herbosa said Marcos took non-degree courses from the UP College of Arts and Sciences from 1976 to 1977. Afterwards, she “took courses under the Bachelor of Laws program at the UP College of Law” from 1979 to 1983.

“There is no record of her graduation from UPD (UP Diliman) nor any honors or academic distinction received with the university registrar’s office,” he said.

Garcia recycled the false claim in a July 20 tweet that has been shared 209 times and liked 727 times. He doubled down on his false claim that Marcos finished her law degree by sharing the statement of lawyer Rene Lapinid. Ironically, Lapinid said that Marcos was not given her law degree since she failed to submit her undergraduate diploma, a basic requirement for admission to a law school.

– Rommel F. Lopez

 

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