Plagiarism charges hurled at judge who convicted Webb, 6 others

The judge who convicted Hubert Webb and six others for the 1991 Vizconde massacre may have committed plagiarism, the lawyer of one of the acquitted defendants said on Wednesday. Jose Flaminiano, counsel for former policeman Gerardo Biong, alleged that former Paranaque Regional Trial Court Branch 274 Judge Amelita Tolentino plagiarized portions from the prosecution's memoranda. Tolentino was appointed as Court of Appeals associate justice in 2001, a year after she convicted Webb and six of his co-accused. Tolentino currently chairs the appellate court's Seventh Division. GMANews.TV could not reach Tolentino's office as of posting time. “I accuse Judge Tolentino of massive [plagiarism]. Sinabi ko roon sa memorandum sa Supreme Court at binanggit ko ang pages ng memorandum ng prosecution na kinopya-kopya ni judge," Flaminiano said in an interview on dzRH radio on Wednesday. (I accuse Judge Tolentino of massive plagiarism. I mentioned it in my memorandum to the Supreme Court. I even specified the pages in her decision where she copied from the prosecution.) However, he did not specify the plagiarized portions. The Supreme Court last Tuesday overturned Tolentino's ruling, as well as the Court of Appeals decision affirming her findings. The SC acquitted Webb, Antonio Lejano, Michael Gatchalian, Miguel Rodriguez, Hospicio Fernande, Peter Estrada, and Biong, who already walked free two weeks ago after serving his sentence of 12 years. Massacre case in 1991 Webb was accused of raping Carmela Vizconde, 18, who was killed in her family's Parañaque home on June 30, 1991. Her mother Estrellita, 47, and sister Jennifer, 7, were also killed. Webb was among the nine people convicted by Paranaque Regional Trial Court Branch 274 Presiding Judge Amelita Tolentino in January 2000 for the killings. The Court of Appeals upheld the conviction in December 2005. Plagiarism mess In the radio interview, Flaminiano said when he read Tolentino's decision in 2000, he noted several plagiarized portions. “Noong ginawa ang kanyang decision noong January 2000, binasa ang decision niya at binasa ko ang memorandum ng prosecution. Marami siyang pinlagiarize na portion ng memorandum ng prosecution na sinali sa kanyang decision na walang sinasabing doon galing, walang attribution," said Flaminiano. (When I read her decision in January 2000, many parts of Tolentino’s decision were lifted from the memorandum of the prosecution. She was committing plagiarism because she did not cite the excerpts from the prosecution’s memorandum.) He then said that Tolentino "has no right" to remain in the judiciary. Plagiarism scandals The judiciary has been rocked by plagiarism scandals this year after SC Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo was accused of plagiarizing at least two of the decisions he penned. The first was his decision denying the pleas of World War II sexual slavery victims (Vinuya vs Executive Secretary), the other was his decision allowing the Ang Ladlad group to participate in the party-list elections this year (Ang Ladlad vs Comelec). Del Castillo, who maintained his innocence, was cleared by the SC in October. The SC said Del Castillo and the legal researcher who helped him draft the Vinuya decision had "no malicious intent" in the "accidental decapitation" of footnotes and attribution marks. – VVP, GMANews.TV