Filtered By: Topstories
News

SC legal researcher behind 'plagiarized' rulings named


The investigative publication "Newsbreak" has identified the legal researcher allegedly responsible for the "plagiarized" portions of at least two Supreme Court decisions penned by Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo. On Wednesday, journalist Carlos Conde identified the researcher as Michelle Ann U. Juan, a former Ateneo School of Law professor, an alumna of the same law school, and a Bar topnotcher. According to Newsbreak, Del Castillo's lawyer, retired Court of Appeals Justice Hector Hofilena, declined their request to interview Juan. The Newsbreak report could not be independently confirmed. GMANews.TV tried to contact Juan but Del Castillo's staff said she is out of the office, because the justices are on recess until November 16. On April 28 this year, the Supreme Court promulgated a ruling denying the plea of World War II comfort women to have the Philippine government compel Japan to apologize and provide compensation for the sexual slavery victims. However, months later, allegations cropped up that portions of the Isabelita Vinuya, et al. vs Executive Secretary ruling contained plagiarized portions. The sources from where Del Castillo allegedly borrowed 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. On October 12, the Supreme Court later cleared Del Castillo of wrongdoing, saying he could not be faulted because his researcher accidentally deleted the footnotes that contains attributions to the three sources. "The mistake of Justice del Castillo's researcher is that, after the Justice had decided what texts, passages, and citations were to be retained, including those from the Criddle-Decent and Ellis, and when she was already cleaning up her work and deleting all subject tags, she unintentionally deleted the footnotes that went with such tags — with disastrous effect," said the SC. Clues to Juan's identity The court did not identify the researcher, saying her name "need not be mentioned." However, the decision left clues to her identity. These clues, outlined below, helped Newsbreak identify her.
  • The researcher graduated from a leading law school
  • She graduated third in her class (Her profile at the Ateneo said Juan graduated third in her batch)
  • She served as editor-in-chief of her school's law journal (Juan was editor-in-chief of the Ateneo Law Journal)
  • She placed fourth in the Bar examinations (Juan ranked fourth in the 2002 Bar exams)
  • She has a master's degree in the International Law and Human Rights from a prestigious United States university under the Global-Hauser program Juan taught legal research According to Newsbreak, while Juan's profile at the Ateneo Law School website does not indicate she earned a degree from the Global-Hauser program, she is "listed as one of the 'graduate editors' of the New York University's law school's Journal of International Law and Politics for 2007-2008, the same year she was a Hugo Grotius scholar." Newsbreak said it is ironic that Juan may have been behind the assailed decisions because she taught legal research at the Ateneo, among other subjects. Newsbreak also said that even if the court decided to withhold Juan's identity, its readers provided links to Juan's profile on the Ateneo law school website. Accomplished lawyer According to the Ateneo law school website, Juan was a professorial lecturer in their school, teaching legal research, legal logic, property, and private international Law. The website said Juan graduated 3rd in her batch and received a special commendation for her thesis. She was also a recipient of the St. Thomas More Award. Juan was likewise the Editor-in-Chief of the Ateneo Law Journal and an oralist of the Ateneo team to the Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition. In the 2002 National Bar Examinations, Juan placed 4th. After finishing law, she worked as an associate of the law firm Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los Angeles. She specialized in domestic and international arbitration, cross-border transactions, and commercial litigation. Juan later worked with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights, and nongovernment organizations (NGO) such as the Assisi Development Foundation, Pamulaan Center for Indigenous Peoples Education, Ilawan Center for Peace & Sustainable Development, Tugdaan Mangyan Center for Learning and Development, and the Indigenous Peoples Livelihood Assistance Network. She also served as the Legal Director of the World Youth Alliance, an international NGO in New York City promoting the dignity of the person in international policy. Juan, as a Hugo Grotius Scholar in International Legal Studies, was also admitted to the master of laws program of the New York University School of Law. Plagiarism case number 2 In the wake of the uproar over the court's decision to clear Del Castillo, another accusation of plagiarism hounded him. A source from the legal community who is familiar with the issue told GMANews.TV that "it's an open secret" that Juan was the legal researcher responsible for the so-called plagiarism in the Vinuya and the Ang Ladlad decisions. Just this week, the website pinoymoneytalk.com, and UP Law Professor Harry Roque Jr., lawyer for the comfort women, alleged that the court's April 8, 2010 ruling on Ang Ladlad vs. Comelec contained plagiarized portions as well. It was Del Castillo who wrote the ruling that allowed Ang Ladlad to participate in the May 2010 elections as a party-list group. (Click here to see a comparison between the portions without the proper attributions and the original text allegedly copied by Justice del Castillo.) –Sophia Dedace, VVP, GMANews.TV
  • LOADING CONTENT