NEW YORK CITY—With loud cheers, applause and a standing ovation, President Benigno Aquino III was conferred an honorary degree by the Fordham University here on Monday (Tuesday in Manila), making him the eighth Philippine president to be bestowed such an award.
HONORARY DEGREE FOR AQUINO. President Benigno S. Aquino III receives the honorary degree of Laws from Fordham University at Bronx, New York, on Monday, Sept. 19, 2011. (From left) Joseph M. Mcshane, S.J., President; John Tognino, Chairman of the Board of Trustees; and Henry M. Schalbenberg, Associate Professor of Economics and Director of Graduate program in International Political Economy and Development. EDWIN BACASMAS
The President’s conferment of a Doctor of Laws honoris causa was the second award given by Fordham University to an Aquino, bestowing it first to his late mother, former President Corazon Aquino, in 1986.
“For following the words that his late father wrote to him from his prison cell in Fort Bonifacio — serving the Filipino people with all his heart and with all his might and with all his strength — we, the President and Trustees of Fordham University, in solemn convocation assembled and in accord with the chartered authority bestowed on us by the Regents of the University of the State of New York, declare Benigno Simeon Aquino III Doctor of Laws honoris causa,” said Fordham officials at the university’s Keating Hall.
Fordham officials cited President Aquino’s efforts to bring a “brighter future for Filipinos.”
“The President has proposed an economy that is transparent and accountable and based on free and fair competition. With a government that is also transparent and accountable and working effectively with various private-public initiatives, the President and his team are laying down the foundations for a brighter future for all Filipinos, but especially for the poor,” they said.
Mr. Aquino profusely thanked the university whose sister institution is the Ateneo de Manila University, where he studied from grade school until college.