Support pours in for embattled UP law dean

Statements of support have started pouring in for embattled dean of the UP College of Law, Marvic Leonen, who has offered to resign his post following accusations of plagiarism. Leonen led in August this year 36 other UP law professors in calling on Supreme Court Associate Justice Mariano Del Castillo to resign for allegedly plagiarizing portions of a decision that the justice penned. The high court absolved the justice of the plagiarism charges but issued a show-cause order against the UP Law 37, as the professors are now called. Over the weekend, the UP Law Student Government (LSG) released a statement calling on the Board of Regents (BOR), UP highest governing body, to reject Leonen’s resignation. “[T]o do otherwise will only reinforce the very evil that we seek to avoid – spiteful political vengeance," read the statement, circulated in the social networking site Facebook. On Friday, the LSG disclosed that the UP Diliman Chancellor had endorsed Leonen’s resignation letter for approval by the BOR, which is set to deliberate on it on Dec. 17. Leonen offered to resign from his post on Dec. 7, after acknowledging his failure to supply at least two attributions in his 2004 article titled "Weaving Worldviews: Implications of Constitutional Challenges to the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997." This came after a lawyers' group, the Philippine Social Justice Foundation (Philjust), sent Leonen a letter on Dec. 4 calling his attention to what appeared to be a case of plagiarism. In their statement, the LSG said they suspect political vendetta as the reason for the accusation, following Leonen’s active participation in the call for the resignation of a Supreme Court Justice likewise accused of plagiarism. “That such an allegation is brought up at this time – a few weeks after the UP Law 37 filed their compliance to the show-cause notice of judgment of the Supreme Court accompanied with the clamor against dishonesty – smells of a deliberate ill-conceived political vendetta either to shift the focus of public indignation, humiliate the few who dared to challenge, or deliver a message of fallibility," the LSG said. The group said Leonen was merely showing moral ascendancy and setting an example of honesty when he offered to resign, which they described as a “courageous and humble act." They likewise reiterated their call for the resignation of SC members who have compromised the high court. “It is because of this that we reiterate our call to those who have been plagued with allegations of dishonesty in the Supreme Court to vacate their positions in order to prevent compromising the revered name of the Highest Court of the Land," the group’s statement read. Online petition In a separate statement spearheaded by UP Law Batch 1987, online supporters likewise commended Leonen for his “decency and integrity," adding that his admission of his “honest mistakes" are manifestations of his “great strength and courage, and utmost humility." The online petition declares that: “Dean Marvic Leonen has tendered his resignation as a matter of principle so that his past mistakes may be passed upon by his peers in the academe and to give them an opportunity to reassess if he is still worthy of the deanship." As of posting, the petition has generated 31 signatures since it was set up on Saturday. They likewise scored Philjust for insinuating that only a person who has never committed a mistake has the right to seek justice or air his grievance. “Only the hypocrite, the arrogant and the conceited will claim that he is free from all errors and fault. Are the Philjust lawyers saying that the hypocrites of this world have a better right in the legal system than the rest of us?" the group said. – MRT, GMANews.TV