plagiarism, manny pangilinan, karen davila
no wonder manny pangilinan a.k.a. MVP needs a ghostwriter for his speeches. if his apology to fr. ben nebres is any indication — i’m supposing he wrote it himself — his english isn’t all that great pala:
I have been told last night that portions of my graduation remarks – in particular my address to the Schools of Humanities and Social Sciences – had been borrowed from certain other graduation speeches.
“i have been told last night”…??? eeeww. this from an ateneo cum laude alumnus?
anyway, like i’ve said in twitter and facebook, at least pangilinan had the grace to be embarrassed and to apologize and take responsibility for the plagiarism instead of excusing himself and blaming only his writers a la ANC’s karen davila. better yet he has the delicadeza (so rare!) to “wish to retire” from his official duties at the ateneo.
I am truly regretful for it. I already have too many battles to fight, and some of them I wish not to have to fight. In this instance, I do not want to, and would seek only the honourable and principled way out. The matter at hand may rest after this public apology, but it gives me a lot of personal discomfort to continue to be closely involved with Ateneo affairs after this incident. I am afraid the damage has been done – wala talaga akong mukhang ihaharap pagkatapos.
With much regret, Fr Ben, I would wish to retire from my official duties at the Ateneo.
in his place though i not only “would wish to retire,” i would simply resign and not give the ateneo any option but to accept it. unless of course he is willing to be persuaded to stay, which would be not only masochistic of him, now that his rockstar status in campus has been degraded by a clear lack of “smarts” at least when it comes to PR ghostwriters, it would also send the message to / set the pattern for students and teachers alike that one only has to immediately apologize when found out, and ayos na ang buto-buto.
as for karen davila, she (along with maria ressa) must be thanking her lucky stars na hindi siya kasing bigtime ni manny pangilinan at hindi ako celebrity like oprah & jk rowling. but if they think na nakalimutan na ang aking plagiarism charge re the laban ni cory tv docu that had davila mouthing spiels re EDSA that were clearly lifted from my book without attribution, they have another think coming.
even before MVP messed up, i would get intermittent queries from family and friends, online and off, asking kung ano nang nangyari, lalo na when davila was given her own show on ANC. my answer always was, i’ll blog about it one of these days. and mula nang pumutok itong kay MVP, ang daming nagtatanong uli kung kailan ba ako magkukuwento, what am i waiting for. so, okay, now na.
timeline
august 2. laban ni cory started airing on ABS-CBN 2, replayed again and again over the next ten days or so.
august 8. emailed butch h., executive director of the people power foundation that published my book, about the plagiarism, and that i intended to blog it. he said, go ahead: “you are the author, after all is said and done.”
august 11. plagiarism and, uh, karen davila, is that you?
august 12. heard davila on dzmm teleradyo say that she knew nothing about it, she didn’t write her spiels for that docu.
august 13. received this email from maria ressa:
From: <Maria_Ressa@abs-cbn.com>
Date: Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 10:51 AM
Subject: Plagiarism ChargeDear Ms. Stuart-Santiago,
Common friends told me about your blog post. I read both your post and the spirited debate in the responses.
I want to assure you that, as head of ABS-CBN News & Current Affairs, I take your charges seriously.
We do not condone plagiarism in any way.
I’ve started an investigation and will personally let you know the results.
Best,
Maria
august 14. sat down with a lawyer whom i’d consulted on a property matter some years ago, who agreed that i had a case, even if the copyright belonged to the publisher that paid me a lump sum for that print edition. but he advised that we give ressa time (a couple of weeks) to investigate and get back to me, hopefully with at least an apology. (yes, a quick apology would have sufficed.)
august 25. having received no more word from ressa, lawyer sent ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. a registered complaint and demand letter. failure to comply would force us to bring the matter to court and take appropriate action, etc. (received my copy in the mail august 28)
september 7. katrina attended poet larry ypil’s book launch where she was informed by a high-profile writer that he and another high-profile writer had received calls from ABS-CBN personalities saying that davila was looking to hook up with me in private, but neither presumed to know me well enough to help out; however the high-profile writer’s advice via my daughter was, better to “negotiate” with davila directly rather than go the lawyer-complaint route, or something to that effect. but i was not interested in under-the-table deals. i was more interested in seeing where “due process” would take me (or not). besides if davila really wanted to find me, she could have tried harder.
september 11. got an email from butch h., informing me that maria ressa was asking for a copy of my book.
also around this time i heard from a familyfriend who knows people high up in ABS-CBN that a serious investigation was going on and that the writer who wrote davila’s spiels was going to get fired if s/he hadn’t been yet, or something to that effect. texted all this hearsay info to lawyer.
october 7. texted lawyer: “anong balita?” he texted back: “no communic8n, feelers from abs cbn?” i said no, not on my end. he texted back: “ok, will draft complaint na.” that was the last i heard from him.
fast forward to feb 15, 2010. a group of u.p. journalism students requested an interview re my plagiarism charge for a paper they were writing for their journalism ethics class. of course i said yes, sabay text and email sa lawyer hoping for an update. no response.
i went ahead with the interview anyway, which forced me to deal with and make sense of the fact that my lawyer seems to have bailed out on me — i had / have seen him on ANC (or maybe it was on Channel 2, or both) being interviewed as a 2010 bet, which should tell me what, that maybe he didn’t go to court with my complaint, as he had promised? or maybe he did but “due process” is just supersloww? or maybe he has been prevailed upon to drop the case? either or, maybe he’s just too busy campaigning to text or email, let me know what’s going on? maybe he doesn’t need my vote, lol.
bottom line?
i hoped / continue to hope, of course, that my publishers would support my plagiarism charge but maybe they don’t care to pala, in aid perhaps of information dissemination? in that event, would it mean that anyone can now lift passages from my work? a pattern, a precedent, has been set? (please tell me it isn’t so.)
for ABS-CBN the bottom line may be: she doesn’t own the copyright, she has no case. hmm. what did ressa say again? “We do not condone plagiarism in any way.” yeah, right. after all, it is as much a sacred rule of journalism as respecting the confidentiality of one’s sources.
katrina’s take:
This is my issue with the way there has just been silence about this plagiarism case (and now Davila has a new show pa on ANC, que horror!). The manner in which Mama’s original words were used, while possibly for information dissemination, etc., BECAUSE it was done by ABS-CBN, was really also about PROFIT. Linawin natin: in the academe, sige, a teacher might read 3 books and do a lecture for a class, even using the authors’ words without attribution, okay lang, walang kumita doon. But on nationwide commercial and cable television? Paulit-ulit pa nila ni-replay! Where is the justice in not even mentioning the author? Where is the justice in just meeting a plagiarism accusation with silence?
ABS-CBN should be ashamed and embarassed. Nakakahiya sila.
sabi rin ni alex magno sa philippine star on MVP’s speech::
Never mind libel cases. Among opinion writers, that is an occupational hazard — and sometimes a measure of valor. But plagiarism, that kills. It washes away the respect of peers and readers. One opinion writer, many years ago, drifted into purgatory after a hawk-eyed reader spotted plagiarized text in his column.
ah, but davila & ressa, ABS-CBN & ANC, are something else, playing by the rules only when it suits them, in effect lowering the bar for broadcast journalism hereabouts, what a shame.
they should take the cue from MVP who cares about honor and principle, and doing the right thing, kahit gaano kasakit — mabuhay siya! and good luck na rin sa kanyang ABC channel 5!
Viewed 9180 times by 2907 viewers
angela is a freelance writer who has written for all media -- print, television, documentary film, stage, and now the internet. A sometime astrologer for family and friends, she has an abiding interest in psychology which she studied at the U.P. She has authored two books on the EDSA revolution -- Chronology of a Revolution 1986 published in 1996 and Himagsikan sa EDSA--Walang Himala! in 2000 by the Foundation for Worldwide People Power. She blogs @ www.stuartsantiago.com
Dear Angela,
Minsan ay pahiram nitong artikulo na ito kapag nagsulat na ako about plagiarism.
It is indeed plagiarism, a cardinal sin in the academe. I usually mark low grades to students who obviously copy pasted from the internet without citing their sources.
Worse, I even fail them in the subject.
naku, silver, feel free, anytime!
Thanks!
O ayan ha! Nagpapaalam ako. Hahahha.
love the graphic, reynz! and it’s great to be back sa barrio siete!!!
swak na swak to plagiarizers whose only talent really is just that haha
hello angela kumusta ka na?
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Silver. Silver said: RT @tweetmeme plagiarism, manny pangilinan, karen davila http://bit.ly/bBSBYY [...]
Hi Snow!
In the light of all the controversial plagiarism issues being talked about quite recently, I wish to share with you that the letter I sent to the Miss Universe Organization (which you had published in your site with proper permission and credits) regarding the dethronement of Maria Venus Raj has been plagiarised as well and appears in Mr Brian Gorrell’s site (http://delfindjmontano.blogspot.com). Gorrell’s letter-sender added a few lines in my letter to make it appear as his own letter to Brian Gorrell.
I notified Mr Gorrell about the matter and a lawyer-friend even politely messaged him. However, no proper action came out of it from Gorrell’s site. He even did not publish our messages.
Because I take writing seriously, I frown upon plagiarism and the blatant disrespect of other people’s intellectual property.
Hi JC,
I agree with you that proper consent and credits must be given to the one who originally wrote the article to avoid future mayhem.
Thanks for dropping by and I hope the issue will be resolved soon.
Cheers,
Snow
“had been borrowed from certain other graduation speeches.”
HAD BEEN BORROWED?! hahaha! for one thing, they “borrowed” it from some very very famous and well-read people here in the United States and they did not know it was “borrowed” hahaha! that should be a lesson to the “BORROWERS” to let the public know, because as famous as these people are in the US – the whole world knows about what they wrote.
next, he’s a Wharton Grad – or god’s sake! that’s like a trademark! ano yon?! binili ang diploma?! hahaha
anyway, nuff of MVP, at least the guy has the balls to own it up and tell the world nangopya lang pala sya.
with the Karen Davila issue, i don’t quite understand why she won’t do an MVP to this point. with even Ressa’s lame excuse – keep the fire’s burning!
ang tagal naman ng imbestigasyon nila. baka binaon na nila siguro sa ‘limot files’.
so disappointed with maria ressa. she could’ve done better.
hope you get justice ms angela, to think these are broadcasters?
Filipinos must know that plagiarism exist inside the walls of the so-called largest Philippine broadcasting company!
Bring it on!!!
@Silver-
This is rampant in schools nowadays due to the readily available materials sa internet. Since all subjects nowadays (even Math) is mandated to integrate reading and writing, what I did was open an email addy na ginagamit ko lang exclusively for submission of written stuff – lab reports, science journal critique, etc of my students. I warn the students though that there is a plagiarism checker that counts the number of words for me and checks their work for plagiarism. I cut and paste their work there and anything that has more than 20% similarity index, or lines that are borrowed but not cited, will not even earn a second glance. Pag nakalusot sa plagiarism checker, saka ko pa lang babasahin to grade the content according to the rubric.
A lot of times, teachers will have the No Plagiarism rule pero walang follow through. I get senior high school students who don’t even know how to properly cite the sources so we have start there…
Here are some links in case you haven’t used them yet:
http://www.dustball.com/cs/plagiarism.checker/
http://www.articlechecker.com/
http://www.plagiarismchecker.com/
Cheers!
Salamat ateng kutz…pakiss nga. Mwah!
Actually, I also use google para matrace ang mga plagiarizers. Obvious naman kasi kung paano magsulat ang isang estudyante versus sa article sa internet.
I always warn my skul bukol estudents to be careful when drafting reports dahil pag nakita kong plagiarized, kukurutin ko ng pino sa singit. LOLz.
Yung ruling kong yan sa Plagiarism is part of my class rule. Kaya kayod marino ang mga skul bukol estudents ko.
Plagiarism is one sign na bumaba na talaga ang standard ng education sa atin although I would not expect this from Ateneo grads or those who graduated from good schools.
There is a sweet young Filipino here from Quezon province who wanted to be a federal official kasi US citizen naman eh. Since we know some people from the NIH in Bethesda, we were able to point him to the right direction. After a couple of years working as a security guard sa NIH, nabigyan ng chance na mag training sa Federal law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) sa Georgia. My husband gave him all the necessary materials para maipasa yung training. After a week, he was kicked out of the batch.
The reason? Plagiarism. Kinopya ba naman yung content ng mga nasa binder na ipinahiram sa kanya eh instructor’s manual kaya yun sa FELTC! Ang laki naman ng title nung binder na instructor’s manual yun eh, sinabihan pa sya na wag ipapaalam kahit kanino na meron syang kopya nun, asus, kinopya. Ayun nasa DC na ngayon, balik bilang gwardya pero hindi na sa Federal agency like NIH… private security company na lang pwede sa kanya.
It’s not really a direct reflection of education standards. It’s more of a halo effect of the culture of the internet generation.
Everyone is so used to getting all the information they want or need on demand. It makes people impatient, lazy, and prone to cramming. Although submitting lifted content from an instructor’s manual made by the same agency also betrays stupidity or at the very least, desperation.
Anyway, I’m not trolling but my OC-ness just won’t let me not say it but, is the Shift key on your keyboard broken, Angela? @_@
thing is these schools and the teachers need to catch up with technology. there are a number of softwares available out there to help them catch cheaters.
i remember the SONA summary I wrote on Reyna Elena – that was heavily copied by most students in Manila. the funny thing was that, they did not change or edited what I wrote – the teacher found out.
she would find out about my website and she lambasted me! hahaha! she’s my Miss Tapia and she said that I should delete my blog and stop writing.
now – why in the world would the teacher blame me dahil nga her students cheated? that’s like erasing the internet para no one would cheat.
that’s why i say that the schools need to catch up fast.
The more senior teachers and professors will be replaced eventually by people of the new era so hopefully, that will be addressed soon.
On cheating, the internet does make it easier to get “inspiration” but it also makes it ridiculously easy to determine plagiarized content.
And Reynz, and this is OT, I stumbled into this blog just recently. I’m mostly apathetic about the drama with the other blog (although I find the hate emanating from there quite disturbing), but I’d like to say (good) blogs centered on Philippine current events and culture are sorely needed. Thanks.
Inexcuseable!
Karen, blaming the researcher shows a lack of class kasi he or she is under you. May tinatawag na “command responsibility” You are responsible for all those you supervise or are in charge of. Furthermore, the fact that you mouthed those plagiarized words does not exempt you from blame. Kasalanan mo pa rin yon, whether you were aware of it or not.
Stop passing the buck and apologize already.
Silver is too soft on plagarism.
Instead of “usually” giving low marks and sometimes failing the students, she should ALWAYS fail the students, no questions asked. I do. I tell my students very clearly that it’s their job to prove to me that it is there work. If I even suspect that they copied and pasted they will fail the entire course. And if the university allowed it, I would have them expelled. Cheating students don’t deserve to be called “graduates”.
This goes double in a society so beset by corruption, lying and cheating. We need to adopt very high — and very public — standards for honesty. It is hypocrisy to on the one hand denounce dishonesty in government but on the other hand to tolerate it in your university, your workplace or your personal life.
Dishonesty is one of the greatest flaws of humanity and one of this country’s greatest challenges. We are afterall well known for our corruption. It is long past the time for our schools to take an uncompromising stand in favor of honesty. Students who cheat should be very publicly punished and expelled. And the UP System in particular should stand up for honest and against corruption.
I would urge you to continue your suit, if you have the resources. Take a stand against corruption, against dishonesty.