MANILA, Philippines - Under heavy fire for allegedly plagiarizing several sources – including a blog – for his anti-reproductive health (RH) speeches, Senate Majority Vicente Sotto III yesterday said he has become a victim of cyber bullying.
Sotto made the statement as he decided to strike the contentious part of his speech off the records of the Senate in an attempt to put the issue to rest.
After a one week delay, Sotto finally delivered his privilege speech yesterday, which was aimed at all of his detractors, specifically those using social media.
Unlike his previous two anti-RH bill speeches, which he delivered almost entirely in English, Sotto’s privilege speech was predominantly Filipino.
“I am probably the first senator of the Philippines to become a victim of cyber bullying. Through the blogs, Facebook and Twitter, I became the center of a smear campaign and malicious attacks by various people,” Sotto said.
“This is probably their strategy especially since they have millions in funds. If you can’t kill the message, kill the messenger,” he added, referring to the pro-RH groups.
Sotto reiterated that he did not commit plagiarism as alleged by American blogger Sarah Pope and the other bloggers who subsequently joined her in condemning the senator.
It was Pope who revealed that parts of her blog entry about the use of the pill were copied by Sotto in his turno en contra speech on the RH bill.
Sotto and his staff explained later that they only lifted the blog sections that referred to the study of Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride, regarding the negative effects of the pill.
According to Sotto, there is no law that considers plagiarism a crime, whether in the Revised Penal Code or the Intellectual Property Code.
Nevertheless, in order to put an end to the controversy, Sotto ended his privilege speech with a motion to strike out of the records of the Senate the paragraph in his speech containing reference to the study of McBride.
“For those who are attacking me and judging me on Facebook, Twitter, blogs and even in the newspapers, I say this: even though I appear to be less educated compared to them and not as knowledgeable as they are, what is important is what I am fighting for,” Sotto said.
“My intentions are clean and it is to fight for the sanctity of life,” he added.
Sotto will deliver the last part of his turno en contra presentation next week.