Imee Marcos is not a Princeton degree holder, student paper reports

Early this year, Philippine senatorial candidate Imee Marcos said she had completed a degree from Princeton University.

However, an independent student paper at Princeton debunked the lady senator’s claim that she graduated from the university.

According to The Daily Princetonian, Ms Marcos, now 63, the daughter of the late President Ferdinand Marcos, went to Princeton in 1973 but there were no records to prove that she  finished her undergraduate studies in 1979.

In Marcos’ Facebook biography, she was described as “one of the first female graduates from an Ivy League School – Princeton University, to graduate with honors.”

However Michael Hotchkiss, Princeton deputy university spokesperson, said Ms Marcos never completed her degree.

“Our records do not show that Ms Marcos was awarded a degree,” Mr Hotchkiss replied when asked about the issue.

However, he confirmed that Ms Marcos attended Princeton at two separate periods, from Fall 1973 to Spring 1976 and from Fall 1977 to Spring 1979.

She chose to study Independent Concentration in Religion and Politics. Hotchkiss said that “concentration” is the equivalent to “major” or the student’s primary field of study in Princeton.

Mr Hotchkiss stressed Ms Marcos failed to finish her concentration.

The current governor of Ilocos Norte, one of the prominent provinces in the Philippines, had the Princeton degree information on her official page as a government official at the Philippine House of Representatives.

Ms Marcos is in her final term as governor this year. Her first term in office as governor was in 2010. She is currently seeking a higher position as senator in the country in the May 2019 elections.

Another controversy hounding Ms Marcos’ were her credentials as a law graduate finishing with honors at the University of the Philippines-Diliman, the premier university in the country.

But according to Teodoro Herbosa, UP executive vice president, there is no record of Ms Marcos graduation from the University of Philippines-Diliman nor any honors or academic awards given by the University Registrar’s office.

While at Princeton, The Daily Princetonian reported that Ms Marcos was not staying on campus. She was being escorted by Philippine security staff and accompanied to and from the campus by a Filipino chauffeur.

Ms Marcos is the eldest child of former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos and First Lady Imelda Marcos. Her family was involved in several scandals throughout Marcos’ presidency from 1965 to 1986, which put the Philippines under martial law.