Tuesday, January 08, 2008


UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES - 100 YEARS

Yesterday, January 8 was the 100th year anniversary of the University of the Philippines (UP). My grandfather dedicated most of his public life to the UP. It was his second home, his fountain of knowledge in which many of the chapters of his life story evolved around it. Allow me to post a citation given to him by the same institution many years ago.


THE UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
Know All Men By These Presents:
That the President of the University of the Philippines in conferring the degree of DOCTOR OF LAWS (honoris causa) upon JORGE BOCOBO on the fourteenth of April, nineteen hundred and fifty-three, delivered the following address:

Jorge Bocobo, native of Gerona, Tarlac, jurist, codifier, civilist, legal scholar, educator, moral leader, man of letters, for your outstanding work as Chairman of the present Code Commission of the Philippines, being mainly responsible for the present Civil Code of the country and contributing most of two of the three books of the proposed Code of Crimes; for your brief but distinguished service as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, enriching the jurisprudence of the country with decisions that are landmarks in the field of Civil Law, couched in lucid and elegant language, for the outstanding recognition you have won in the bench, the bar and the legal circles of the United States and Spain as a towering figure in the field of Civil Law; for the able leadership you displayed as Secretary of Public Instruction and President of the University of the Philippines; for your long and fruitful tenure as the first Filipino Dean of the College of Law of the University of the Philippines; establishing therein a standard of scholarship that has long been a challenge to sister legal institutions of this country and a cause for its high repute in university circles abroad; for the literary works that have profusely come from so versatile a mind and from so prolific a pen; for the long, devoted and unselfish service you have rendered your fatherland dating back to almost half a century ago, the University of the Philippines hereby confers upon you the degree of Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) with all the privileges thereunto appertaining.
In testimony whereof, you are hereby presented with this diploma and invested with the appropriate regalia of your academic rank.


VIDAL A. TAN
President of the University

Attested:

PATERNO SANTOS
Registrar of the University