Lyceum faculty backs UP professors on row with SC

MANILA, Philippines - The law faculty of the Lyceum of the Philippines University backed yesterday law professors of the University of the Philippines in their stand against the Supreme Court’s clearing of Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo of allegations of plagiarism.

In a statement, the Lyceum law faculty said the show cause order against UP law professors appeared to be inconsistent with the SC’s own findings on the plagiarism charges against Del Castillo.

Dean Soledad Deriquito-Mawis and the Lyceum law faculty said they were surprised that SC cleared Del Castillo based on the argument that the alleged plagiarism was an accidental removal of citations by glitches in the computer system and ordered the UP law professors to explain why they should not be administratively sanctioned for their allegations.

Mawis said they found it “regrettable” that the SC did not require any person to apologize for the oversight, nor did it see fit to issue a corrected decision in the Vinuya case with proper attribution.

The Lyceum law faculty said in determining that no plagiarism took place in the Vinuya case, because the evident copying was done without “malicious intent,” the SC established a dangerous precedent and lowered the standard of conduct that the court has expected of its officers.

“What will the law professors teach their students now?” they said. “That it is all right to copy another person’s work without proper attribution as long as there is no malicious intent?”

They said “the reach of the SC’s unfortunate decision will affect not just the legal and judicial professions, but also all fields where ownership of creative work is cherished and protected as sacrosanct.”

The Lyceum law faculty said in clearing Del Castillo, the SC ignored the time-honored ethical standards it has always espoused — “that lying, stealing, cheating will ensure that the law student will never be able to take the Bar; and that their actions and omissions, as law students, and later on, as lawyers, have consequences.”

The Lyceum law faculty said in 2005, the SC ruled that Computer Guidelines and Policies mandates that the use of IT facilities and computer resources entails responsibility to use these resources in an efficient, ethical and lawful manner consistent with the mission and vision of the Court.

“To this end, every user must use SC’s computer resources in a responsible, professional and ethical manner and within legal and proper boundaries,” the Lyceum law faculty said.

The Lyceum law faulty said under Section 10 of the guidelines, entitled Proper Use and Prohibited Acts in Utilization of IT Facilities and Resources, the following are considered violations: Use of copyrighted material without attribution… a criminal offense under Section 33(b) of the Electronic Commerce Act; and plagiarism, such as acts of copying a computer file that contains another person’s work and submitting it for one’s own credit, or using it as a model for one’s own work, without the consent or permission of the owner or author.

“Lawyers are required to be honest,” the Lyceum law faculty said.

“Dishonesty has been defined by the SC as a ‘disposition to lie, cheat, deceive or defraud; untrustworthiness; lack of integrity; lack of probity in principle, of fairness and straightforwardness. Plagiarism is a form of dishonesty.

“The basic definition of plagiarism is the copying and owning of someone else’s work and claiming it as one’s own.”

Among those who signed the Lyceum law faculty statement are Vice Dean Angela Ylagan; law professors Minerva Ambrosio and Katrina Legarda; and Joel Butuyan and Rommel Bagares, law partners of Harry Roque.

The UP law professors were ordered to explain why a “dummy” statement was submitted even if it was supposedly “not a true and faithful reproduction” of the one issued by the UP law faculty.

Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez, SC spokesman, said lawyers are barred from making statements that tend to influence public opinion while a case is pending.

Chief Justice Renato Corona signed the order. Nine others concurred: 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.

Three others dissented: Senior Justice Antonio Carpio and Associate Justices Conchita Carpio - Morales and Ma. Lourdes Sereno, all alumni of UP College of Law.

Associate Justice Roberto Abad was on leave, while Del Castillo took no part in the voting.

It was found out during an earlier SC probe that the statement condemning the alleged plagiarism and calling for Del Castillo’s resignation was signed only by 37 out of 81 members of the UP law faculty.

“And retired Justice Vicente Mendoza did not sign the statement, contrary to what the dummy represented,” read the SC ruling cleaing Del Castillo last month.

“The Committee wondered why Dean (Marvic Leonen) submitted a dummy of the signed document when UP has an abundance of copying machines.”