Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 23) — President Rodrigo Duterte will be awarded a Doctorate Degree at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO University), after declining a similar degree from the University of the Philippines.
The MGIMO is set to award the degree to Duterte on Wednesday, May 24, before the scheduled bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, according to sources from Malacañang.
The University of the Philippines offered to grant Duterte a Doctor of Laws degree last April, but the President rebuffed it as a matter of personal and official policy.
“With due respect sa [to] University of the Philippines, I do not accept — even when I was mayor. Hindi ako tumatanggap [I don’t accept],” Duterte responded.
U.P. scholars and alumni expressed dissent from the granting of the doctorate degree, a decision made by the state university’s Board of Regents.
In its university website, MGIMO said it confers honorary degrees to prominent foreign politicians, public experts, diplomats and scholars, with expertise in international relations and foreign policy.
MGIMO has previously awarded the degree to former president Fidel V. Ramos, former United Nations Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon who has criticized Duterte’s war on drugs, and former U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights Louise Arbor.
Duterte is in Russia to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Medvedev as part of his four-day official visit.
Duterte to meet Medvedev, Putin
Duterte will have a bilateral meeting with Medvedev at the Reception House of the Government of the Russian Federation on Wednesday.
On Thursday, May 25, Duterte will have a restricted meeting with Putin at the Moscow Kremlin.
The two leaders would also have a signing ceremony to be followed by a joint press conference.
Duterte said in his pre-departure speech on Monday that his “landmark visit” to meet with Putin and Medvedev was aimed at rectifying a “strategic oversight” on the part of the Philippines for “overdependence on traditional partners” like the United States and other western countries.
Read more: Duterte ‘determined’ to boost ties with Russia
After the meeting with the Russian president, Duterte will meet the Filipino community in Moscow on Thursday evening.
On Friday, May 26, Duterte will depart Moscow for St. Petersburg for the Philippine-Russia Business Forum.
He is expected to return to the Philippines on Monday, May 29, at around 3:25 p.m. Philippine time.
Davao-based journalist Ben Tesiorna contributed to this report.
