Supreme Court orders UP faculty members to explain 'dummy' statement

MANILA, Philippines - After clearing one of its justices of plagiarism, the Supreme Court (SC) is turning its sights on faculty members of the UP College of Law for issuing a “dummy” statement denouncing the concerned magistrate.

In a show cause order, the High Court ordered the professors led by Dean Marvic Leonen to explain why they should not be penalized for violating the Code of Professional Responsibilities of Lawyers.

SC spokesman Midas Marquez said the Code bars lawyers from making public statements on a pending case to avoid influencing public opinion.

Chief Justice Renato Corona signed the order, with Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco Jr., Antonio Eduardo Nachura, Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Arturo Brion, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Martin Villarama Jr., Jose Perez and Jose Mendoza concurring.

Senior Justice Antonio Carpio and Associate Justices Conchita Carpio-Morales and Ma. Lourdes Sereno dissented while Associate Justice Roberto Abad was on leave.

Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo, the magistrate cleared of plagiarism, abstained.

The SC said the statement condemning the alleged plagiarism and calling for resignation of Del Castillo was signed by only 37 of the 81 members of the faculty.

“And retired Justice Vicente Mendoza did not sign the statement, contrary to what the dummy represented. The committee wondered why Dean (Marvic Leonen) submitted a dummy of the signed document when UP has an abundance of copying machines,” the SC said.

The SC directed the committee on ethics to turn over to the full court the signed copy of the manifesto “for consideration in relation to the separate pending matter concerning that supposed faculty statement.”

Del Castillo had been accused of copying without proper attribution quotes and footnotes from three foreign law journals in a ruling last April junking the bid of over 70 Filipino women abused during World War II to compel the government to support their demands for official apology and reparations from Tokyo.

Last week, his colleagues voted 10-2 clearing him of the accusation. The SC said the alleged plagiarism was a result of an “accidental removal of proper attributions to the three authors” by Del Castillo’s legal researcher while drafting the decision on a computer.

In a chance interview during the 49th anniversary celebration of the Philippine Constitution Association (Philconsa) at the Manila Hotel on Tuesday, Del Castillo said he now wanted to move on as the issue had caused him “a lot of suffering” and deepened his pain of losing a daughter a few years ago.

He said he was drawing strength from his family who was always urging him to “keep my head up because I have not done anything wrong.”

“In fairness to the UP people, I really have nothing against them. All I know is that they’re really passionate in their advocacies,” he said.