One of the most talked about topics in Philippine media today is Senator Tito Sotto’s inclusion of passages in his speeches against RH bill without due attribution to the original authors. First, it was an American blogger, and now, Robert F. Kennedy.
In a report from ABS-CBN, Sotto admitted that he received a passage in English, found it beautiful without knowing that it was from JFK’s brother, translated it and included in his speech. Sotto, a comedian before he won a seat in the senate, merely laughed at the allegations of plagiarism and said that critics better focus on the issue of RH Bill.
Maybe, Sotto has a very limited ability to give credit where it is due. Maybe he has been doing this for quite a long time without getting caught. Maybe he still carries with him his ‘Iskul Bukol’ antics in the Senate. Maybe he deserves all the criticism against him. There is one thing I find alarming, though. All the blame is on the Senator and nobody talks about his speech writer.
I doubt if Sotto did all the research and copied the American blogger’s words, or discovered for himself Kennedy’s speech and translated it in Tagalog. There is most probably a seasoned writer working for him who knows fully well the technicalities of plagiarism, but still copied or translated passages without naming the original authors.
Sotto is still responsible for his speeches of course, but it would really be a tough job for a Senator to find time to counter check if his speech was copied from anywhere else in the world.
By not going after his speech writer and focusing much on Sotto, we are showing our old tendency to put all blame on the leader without cleaning up all the ranks, from top to bottom. It shows our propensity to condemn a person and not the act itself.
This is bothersome, because this behavior reminds me of the reason why we lost the momentum gained in EDSA. We focused too much on the Marcoses without noticing the cronies still lurked in important positions. The nation was also very happy with EDSA II , focusing on personalities without knowing we will again remove another president later on. These comparisons are far bigger than the current issue of plagiarism. If you want smaller comparisons, then look at a considerable number of OFWs sweating it out while relatives spend the hard-earned remittances on every conceivable vice.
This is bothersome, because this is a case where we fail to demand responsibility from all levels of our society. Our nation would do well if we hold everyone accountable, from Senators to speechwriters, from top government officials to street cleaners.. Only then can we promote value formation. Only then can we foster an environment for altruism. Only then can we move on.
