Sotto’s scot-free (and why it’s our fault)

Katrina Stuart Santiago

Yes plagiarism might seem small and petty, it can seem like an academic thing, but it certainly isn’t moot, and I don’t know that making fun of Tito Sotto, in whatever way, will mean people taking this seriously. If at all, it reveals how we have inadvertently clouded the conversation on plagiarism with the fact of social class, i.e., pang-edukado naman ang issue na ‘yan, pang-kayo-kayo lang. Because really, who has spent time and effort talking about Sotto in light of this mistake? Who has started laughing at him, thinking jokes as weapons, too? Tayo-tayo nga.

Read on…

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  2. baycas

    Cached by Google:

    Drilon: Senate plagiarism unacceptable

    By David Dizon, ABS-CBNnews.com
    Posted at 08/23/2012 10:46 AM | Updated as of 08/23/2012 10:47 AM

    MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Franklin Drilon on Thursday said he does not condone plagiarism after a  senator’s chief aide admitted that plagiarism is a common practice in the Senate.

    “For some plagiarism is considered an acceptable practice. Not to me, and I hope my colleagues believes the same way,” Drilon said in his Twitter account.

    Atty. Hector Vilacorta, chief of staff of Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto, earlier said it was common practice among chiefs of staff to repackage unpassed bills in the previous Congress and resubmit them before the Senate.

    “Kopyahan po to talaga, eh.  Pag natapos ang isang Congress, lahat ng bill na hindi naipasa, kopyahan. Bakit mo iisipin ulit eh nandyan na? A bill not acted upon dies with a Congress. The new Congress senators will find out what can still be revived. Kopyahan po, pero hindi masamang kopyahan,” he said.

    Villacorta said he sees nothing wrong with lawmakers repackaging previously submitted bills, and claiming it as their own.

    “The Bible reached us today because the monks copied from the Greeks. Lahat ho talaga nag uumpisa ng konting kopyahan. Edison copyrighted the cinematographic machine so all proceeds sa kanya pero if not copied, we would not have movies today,” he said.

    Senator Sotto, who is Villacorta’s boss, has come under fire for allegedly plagiarizing portions of his anti-Reproductive Health Bill speech from a US blog.

    On Wednesday, Sotto said he already gave a “blanket disclosure” that his “turno en contra” speech is not 100% his.

    He said he already disclosed that his speech is derived from various research material from the Internet. He said he never claimed ownership of material lifted from Sarah Pope’s blog, which also came from another source.

    August 27, 2012 at 5:12 pm
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