PHNO-OPINION: INQUIRER EDITORIAL: 'ISKUL BUKOL' IN THE SENATE

INQUIRER EDITORIAL: 'ISKUL BUKOL' IN THE
SENATE
MANILA, AUGUST 21, 2012
(INQUIRER) The circumstances surrounding the acts of
plagiarism committed by Sen. Vicente Sotto III, in the first two installments of
his controversial "turno en contra" speech at the Senate last week, are so
comical, so ridiculous, they invite disbelief.
Did Sotto, the majority leader, really tell ANC's Karen Davila
that he was not obliged to attribute the passage he and his staff lifted almost
word for word, comma for misplaced comma, from American blogger Sarah Pope
because "blogger lang 'yon [she's only a blogger]"?

Did his chief of staff, lawyer Hector Villacorta, really leave an extended
comment in Pope's blog that became an instant classic of offensive stupidity
phrased in legal gobbledygook? "We are both indebted to the book's author
[Natasha Campbell-McBride] but if you wish that you also be credited with the
contents of the book, let this be your affirmation. I can do it and by this
message, I am doing it."

Did Villacorta really tell GMA News, after news broke that the second part of
Sotto's speech also had at least three instances of outright plagiarism, as
pointed out by the likes of prizewinning novelist Miguel Syjuco, that one can
appropriate anything from the Internet? "Yes, the Internet is a free range of
ideas for the world to see. It's in the free atmosphere."

And did Sotto really say to the Star (as quoted in the helpful timeline
prepared by Filipino Freethinkers, whose blogger Alfredo Melgar was the first to
find the passages lifted from Pope) that "Plagiarism, whether you give
attribution or not, applies only if you contend that the contents are yours"?


It is tempting to respond to this series of intellectually dishonest
rationalizations, this dumbfounding serial comedy, by simply laughing at the
ridiculousness of it all. At a fraught moment in a once-in-a-generation
legislative debate, one of the key players in the Senate turns out to follow the
academic standards of the infamous Wanbol University—you know, that fictional
school in "Iskul Bukol" where one of the most popular characters Sotto created,
back when he was still doing full-time comedy, held court as king of school
hijinks.

This makes us realize that there may be no better way to put Sotto's acts of
plagiarism and his and his staff's tortured defense in perspective than to quote
that satirical blogger, The Professional Heckler. Out of many laugh-out-loud
passages, we choose this: "Yet latest online reports reveal Tito Sotto
plagiarized the work of not just one BUT four bloggers to be exact… prompting
actress Cherie Gil to quip, 'You're nothing but a second-rate trying hard
copy-paste!'"

To be sure, Sotto is not the only high-profile personality wrestling with
issues of intellectual fraud, which is the bottom line of any act of plagiarism.
The influential Time writer and CNN host Fareed Zakaria was recently suspended
for a month by both news organizations for lifting one passage from the work of
Harvard professor and New Yorker writer Jill Lepore. Unlike Sotto, however,
Zakaria readily admitted to the mistake. And according to both Time and CNN,
they found no other instance of plagiarism in Zakaria's work.

Sotto, however, remains a piece of work. He is reported to be preparing a
privilege speech this week to defend himself against the charges of plagiarism
by claiming that what political operatives call a demolition job has been
ordered against him. If only he didn't provide his detractors with the sticks of
dynamite himself. As The Professional Heckler's own tagline reminds us: "The
problem with political jokes is they get elected."

But, important as the issue of plagiarism is, the deeper issue in the
Philippines is the fate of the long-awaited Reproductive Health bill. It is here
where the real import of Sotto's cut-and-paste approach to his speeches can be
seen. He is ready to use everything—the work of bloggers he does not deign to
acknowledge, dubious or at least ambiguous research, the sloppy legal
justifications of his staff, even emotional blackmail—to stop the bill from
becoming law. That is the real joke, but nobody's laughing.


Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All
rights reserved




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