CJ Corona graduates with top honors from UST grad school

The man who occupies the highest judicial post in the land on Saturday graduated with the highest honors from the University of Santo Tomas Graduate School. In his valedictory speech at the commencement exercises in Intramuros, Chief Justice Renato Corona said he was proud of his "hard-earned" degree of Doctor of Civil Law. He graduated summa cum laude. "I speak to you now not as a public official nor as the head of the judiciary, but as a most humble and grateful student," Corona said before thanking those who encouraged him to pursue his "quest for knowledge." Corona told reporters in an interview that he had previously received honorary degrees but the doctoral degree he obtained from the UST Graduate School was special because it was hard-earned. He said he worked on his doctoral degree for five years, attending classes whenever he could and spending much time on writing papers. "You really have to spend time on it kasi nakakahiya naman because of my position, baka sabihin ng mga propesor ang panget naman ng papel na 'to. So I really gave time and effort into producing quality papers," he said. (Professors might say my papers aren't up to par for someone in my position.) In his speech, Corona reminded his fellow graduates that education does not end with graduation from school. "Education is not simply a matter of ingesting information or of committing facts and figures to memory but rather of forming and stimulating the mind not only to think but to think correctly, and most important of all, to choose rightly, wisely, and well," said the chief justice. "But education will mean nothing if it is directed at the mind alone," he said. "The heart has to be involved as well. How many brilliant people, with fancy degrees and titales after their names, have we met with no conscience and with no moral values?" Corona's dissertation was titled "To Every One His Due: The Philippine Judiciary at the Forefront of Promoting Environmental Justice." Corona finished his Bachelor of Laws at the Ateneo Law School in 1974 and placed 25th in the Bar exams during the same year, according to his profile on the Supreme Court website. After law school, he took up a Master of Business Administration course at the Ateneo Professional Schools. He was accepted to the Master of Laws program in Harvard Law School in 1981 where he "focused on foreign investment policies and the regulation of corporate and financial institutions" and was conferred the LL.M. degree the next year. Corona was appointed chief justice in May last year by then president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, a move that was heavily criticized by then president-elect and now president Benigno S. Aquino III. Corona had served as Arroyo's chief of staff, spokesman, and acting executive secretary. — TJD, GMA News