CHED: Nueva Ecija school that granted PhD to Daniel Matsunaga not recognized

FILE: Daniel Matsunaga with General Benjamin Defensor, PhD. Batch 2018. (Photo: Daniel Matsunaga/Facebook)

Just a few days ago, Daniel Matsunaga happily announced to his Instagram followers that he was conferred with an honorary Ph.D in Humanities, major in Social Work by Brethren Evangelical School of Theology (BEST) in Gapan, Nueva Ecija.

Along with the video of him during the ceremony, Daniel wrote: “I am very honored to be the recipient of such an amazing award. I just want to thank God for everything He has done in my life…also to the executives for believing and trusting me with such a big award.”

The Japanese-Brazilian model-actor’s happiness on the award he received, however, did not last long as the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) on Wednesday, September 12, announced that BEST has “no authority” to grant an honorary doctorate degree or Honoris Causa.

“Based on CHED records, the school has never applied for an authority to operate from the Commission and is not recognized as a Higher Education Institution (HEI) in the Philippines,” it said.

CHED stressed that BEST violated the policies and guidelines indicated under CHED Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 19, series of 2014, also known as the “Enhanced Policies and Guidelines on the Conferment of Honorary Doctorate Degrees by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).”

According to the CMO, only HEIs which existed for at least 25 years and possess a “well-acknowledge academic reputation, institutional values and mission, among others” can award such honorary doctorate degrees.

“The public is hereby advised that the awarding of an Honorary Doctorate Degree or Honoris Causa by Brethren Evangelical School of Theology to any person will not be recognized by the Commission on Higher Education,” it stressed.

“CHED shall impose the necessary sanctions against BEST in relation to the offering of degree programs upon compliance with the due process of law,” it continued.

As of writing, Daniel has not yet issued any comment regarding this matter.

Daniel, who made his name in the entertainment industry after he was declared as the big winner in ABS-CBN’s reality show Pinoy Big Brother, recently got involved in a vehicular accident at Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.

[READ: Daniel Matsunaga issues statement after being involved in vehicular accident]