SC ethics panel to probe plagiarism issue vs magistrate

A recently formed ethics committee in the Supreme Court has been tasked to look into the allegations of plagiarism hounding one of its justices. The investigation on Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo, who has been accused of lifting portions of legal articles without proper attribution in one of his decisions, will be the committee’s first since it was formed last May prior to the retirement of then Chief Justice Reynato Puno. "Under the internal rules, there is what we call an ethics committee. The ethics committee will handle this issue on this alleged plagiarism," court administrator and spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said at a news briefing Tuesday. Chief Justice Renato Corona will head the committee, with Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-De Castro as vice-chairperson, Marquez said. Associate Justices Roberto Abad, Jose Mendoza, and Jose Perez were elected members during Tuesday morning’s en banc session. Marquez said a retired Supreme Court justice will also serve as an observer in the investigation. Del Castillo's letter The panel was tapped for the first time following Del Castillo’s letter sent to his colleagues last Thursday seeking to clear his name from the allegations. In the letter, the embattled magistrate denied plagiarizing his April 28, 2010 ponencia that denied the request of sexual slavery victims during the Japanese occupation to have the Philippine government compel Tokyo to make a public apology and provide them with compensation. "It must be emphasized that there was every intention to attribute all sources, whenever due. At no point was there ever any malicious intent to appropriate another's work as our own," a portion of Del Castillo’s letter read. Citing Section 184(k) of Republic Act No. 8293 or the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines, Del Castillo said that "any use made of a work for the purpose of any judicial proceedings shall not constitute infringement of copyright." He also apologized to the court for "any inconvenience this matter has caused... and for the diversion of attention from far more significant concerns." Del Castillo also attached a chart explaining that the allegedly plagiarized portions were attributed properly to their respective sources. Motion for reconsideration The ruling is on appeal before the high tribunal. Last week, the victims and their lawyers went to the court to submit a supplemental motion for reconsideration to formalize their allegations that Del Castillo committed plagiarism. The sources where Del Castillo allegedly borrowed from without proper attribution were “A Fiduciary of Theory of Jus Cogens" by Evan Criddle and Evan Fox-Decent, "Breaking the Silence on Rape as an International Crime" by Mark Ellis, and "Enforcing Erga Omnes Obligations in International Law" by Christian Tams. Criddle had criticized the Philippine Supreme Court, particularly the Del Castillo ruling, for supposedly stating the opposite of what he stated in his article. "Speaking for myself, the most troubling aspect of the court’s jus cogens discussion is that it implies that the prohibitions against crimes against humanity, sexual slavery, and torture are not jus cogens norms. Our article emphatically asserts the opposite," Criddle said in his comment on an article posted on international law blog Opinio Juris. Del Castillo denied distorting the contents of his sources to support his arguments to dismiss the victims’ petition. — KBK/RSJ, GMANews.TV