MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Vice President Jejomar Binay clarified on Tuesday, January 26, that he was not able to finish his master’s degrees* both at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) and the University of the Philippines (UP).

Doubts were recently raised about the Vice President’s educational attainment following an article entitled “Does Binay have a master’s degree from UST?” released by The Varsitarian, UST’s official student publication.

The article questioned Binay’s resumé found on the websites of the National Housing Authority (NHA) and the Home Development Mutual Fund or Pag-IBIG Fund, which states that Binay “academically completed” his Master of Laws in UST in 1980. 

In an interview with dzBB on Tuesday, January 26, Binay explained he was unable to finish his Master of Laws thesis in UST because he was already active as a human rights lawyer at the time, providing free legal assistance to political detainees during the Marcos regime. (READ: 9 things to know about Jejomar Binay)

“Hindi ho ako nakapagthesis dahil sa mainit ang paglaban sa pamahalaan. Hindi na kami masyadong nakalabas,” said Binay.

(I wasn’t able to finish my thesis because I was busy fighting the government. We weren’t able to go out that much.)

He also said he was not able to finish his master’s degree in public administration at UP for the same reason. He also claims his UP thesis was stolen in his car.

“‘Yung draft ng thesis ko ay binasag ‘yung salamin ng aking kotse, ninakaw ‘yung portfolio ko. E noon e, wala pang masyadong computer-computer na meron kang back-up,” Binay told dzBB.

(What happened to the draft of my thesis was someone broke the window of my car and stole my portfolio, which contained the thesis. At that time, I didn’t have a back-up copy because computers weren’t a thing then.)

Binay’s resumé is found on the websites of the NHA and Pag-IBIG because the Vice President was the former housing czar before resigning from the Aquino Cabinet. 

The “Vice President’s Corner” of the official website of the Office of the Vice President also says Binay “passed the bar exams in 1968, and took masteral subjects in public administration and law in UP and the University of Sto Tomas, respectively.” 

As of posting, however, links to the “Vice President’s Corner” and Binay’s resumé on the NHA website were inaccessible. – Rappler.com

*Editor’s Note: In an earlier version of this story, Rappler reported that Vice President Jejomar Binay failed to finish his UST master’s degree because his thesis was stolen. It was his UP master’s degree thesis that was stolen.