The Ateneo de Manila University's Board of Trustees declined businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan's resignation as its chair after he admitted that portions of his commencement speech before the Ateneo graduating class last month were borrowed. “The Board accepts Mr. Pangilinan's apology as the appropriate response to this unfortunate incident. However, the unanimous decision of the Board is not to accept Mr. Pangilinan's resignation. It expresses full confidence in his leadership as Chairman,” it said in a statement posted on the Ateneo's website. “The Board of Trustees asks Mr. Pangilinan to please reconsider his resignation from the Ateneo Board of Trustees. There is so much to be done, not just for the Ateneo, but for our country and people. His leadership is needed today more than ever,” it added. The board added that Pangilinan, who heads Smart Communications and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., among other companies, could keep his honorary doctorate Humanities degree. PLDT and other units subsumed under it controls the Manila Electric Co., the Philippines' largest electric company. Pangilinan also heads Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which maintains tollways and is a partner in Maynilad, the water distributor in the Philippine capital's west zone. The board said it deliberated on Pangilinan's case last Sunday, taking into consideration the sentiments of the university's “faculty, staff, administrators and the public at large.” It added that it while it took plagiarism seriously, “the plagiarism happened without full awareness on the part of Mr. Pangilinan.” Allegations that portions of Pangilinan's speech last March 27 were lifted from other speeches — such as those of US president Barack Obama, author J.K. Rowling, and television personalities Oprah Winfrey and Conan O'Brien — first circulated online. Days later, Pangilinan admitted to “borrowing” from other speeches. “I wish to express my sincerest apology to you, the University and to the 2010 graduating class,” he said in a letter to Ateneo president Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, SJ. After acknowledging the incident had caused him “a deep personal embarrassment,” Pangilinan then told Nebres that “with much regret… I would wish to retire from my official duties at the Ateneo.” To which, Nebres replied that the telecommunications magnate's apology would suffice.
