For shame!!!

I am mortified that an alumnus of my UP (University of the Philippines) beloved would do such a shameless and dishonest act as stealing someone else’s photo and submitting it to a contest as his own – and then even preen and gloat as he received the prize for it. And to think that he – Mark Joseph Solis, remember that name – has done it many times before! “No words can express how sorry I am” just won’t cut it; this was not a “regrettable lapse on my judgment” – hey, didn’t someone else claim a “lapse of judgment” in connection with a wiretapped conversation? – since it was not an isolated incident but a repeated, deliberate pattern of fraud. He even invented a whole tale of seaweed gathering in Zamboanga to go with the photo.

Don’t throw a don’t-kick-a-dog-when-it’s-down line at me; as a UP alumna and a Filipino I am insulted, betrayed, ashamed, angry. Have we really become a nation of cheats and thieves? It’s bad enough we have come to expect our politicians and government officials to lie, cheat and steal – and unfortunately they haven’t proved us wrong in this regard; but we expect more of our youth, especially the “best and brightest” such as students from the UP, the country’s premier institution of higher learning. The guy is reportedly a recipient of numerous scholarships and distinctions (are these genuine, or have they too been “lifted”?), which makes what he has done even more awful. He could easily have taken a photo; maybe a good one, maybe not. But to repeatedly steal other people’s works is incomprehensible. He is pursuing a master’s degree in public administration; well, his kind we do not need in public service. But as my colleague noted, as smooth talking as he is, the guy definitely has a future as a sin-ator or tong-gressman, in the mode of the scam-prone politicos now populating our legislature.

On the following pages we are featuring the real winning photos and some others from the Calidad Humana “Smiles for the World” contest organized by the embassy of Chile in Manila. It is very unfair to these other photographers to have one degenerate spoil the good work they have done. Contest organizers have decided to award the prize to what was then the second prize winner, a 55-year-old businessman and photo enthusiast.

Chilean Ambassador Roberto Mayorga said in a statement: “This case must strengthen our faith and make us aware that we are in front of a hard challenge to take care and preserve the Calidad Humana that the majority of Filipinos have.”

UP president Alfred Pascual informed us that he has “ordered the initiation of disciplinary process against Mark Solis in accordance with our university rules.” Without ignoring the fact that the university has produced its share of alumni who have turned out to be, well, less than honorable, let us uphold the tradition of fairness and dignity of our UP beloved, a tradition respected, upheld and practiced by most of those who have had the privilege of having studied under truly brilliant and honorable minds.

Praise our God, O people, let the sound of his praise be heard; he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping. For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver. Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me. I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer. Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me. 

Psalm 65:8-10, 16-20