According to GMA News Online report, three United States-based bloggers are planning to file a complaint before the Philippine Senate Ethics Committee against Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto, who allegedly incorporated plagiarized sections of their work in his speeches.
Canada-based writer Miguel Syjuco sent GMA News Online a facsimile of the document, which was signed by Sarah Couture Pope of the blog, Healthy Home Economist; Janice Formichella of the website, Feminists for Choice; and Peter Engelman of New York University’s Margaret Sanger Papers Project.
"Neither Senator Sotto nor anyone associated with him requested permission to use our articles and blog entries, or contacted us or anyone associated with our publications," read the complaint, which was signed and dated on October 1, 2012. "We find this misuse of our work to be deceptive, unethical, illegal and unacceptable."
Pope, who was the first among the bloggers to speak out against Sotto’s actions, had claimed earlier that her words were “twisted” to go along with Sotto’s stance against the Reproductive Health Bill. Sotto’s camp had also allegedly copied sections from Engelman, who wrote an article entitled Gandhi and Sanger Debate Love, Lust and Birth Control.
Formichella, a woman’s rights advocate, said that she does not want her work used as a tool to promote the non-passage of the bill, which she supports. “I believe strongly in the women's health bill in question and would never want my research or work to be used to argue against the legislation," she was quoted as saying, adding that she wants a public apology from the controversial senator.
For his part, Sotto says that he had not yet been informed of the bloggers’ complaint. "It's a welcome development because that will give me a chance to prove there was no such thing (pertaining to the plagiarism accusations)," he said.
(Photo courtesy of PEP.ph)
