August 15. Alfredo Melgar accused Tito Sotto III of plagiarism. Few days after that, the controversial bully Robert Carabuena, who became a Youtube sensation in his own right after assaulting an MMDA officer named Sonny, read a letter of apology at the MMDA office in front of the MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino himself. The prey (Mr. Sonny) was not present then and the referee (MMDA Chairman) said the apology of the predator (Carabuena) was accepted but he still has to face some legal actions.
Many Filipinos are now wondering. If Carabuena has the balls to apologize just to redeem his driver's
license, is Tito Sotto willing to be humble enough to admit the plagiarism allegations and apologize?Plagiarism
In order to support his argument against the Reproductive Health Bill, Tito Sotto III quoted some scientific facts from Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride, MD. However, the way he quoted the author appears to be similar, if not identical, to how a blogger named Sara Pope did. The blogger was shocked by his involvement in the issue and believed it was probably the senator's staff who plagiarized her work and he was just a reader. The blogger added that paraphrasing her work was even easy. Tito Sotto III defended himself saying that he did his part by citing the original source (the doctor) and there is no need to cite the blogger because she was just a blogger. This is a plain indication that he did base his speech on the blog but felt it was not
necessary to quote the blogger.Tito, Vic, Joey, Richie, and Pepsi Paloma
What is surprising here is that Tito Sotto III committed a reckless self-incrimination by insinuating that he did copy the blogger's work but citing the doctor's words was enough. About three decades ago, the senator himself was responsible for rescuing his own brother, Vic Sotto, and friends Joey de Leon and Richie de Horsie from the molestation charges filed by a young sexy actress, Pepsi Paloma, who later committed suicide. He was able to convince these three perverts to issue public apology for molesting a young lady but he couldn't convince himself to simply apologize for plagiarizing a lady's blog.
Bid for 2013 Election
Like the case of Carabuena, there is apparently a consensus among the Filipinos that Tito Sotto III is guilty of plagiarism. If he doesn't do the right thing (apologizing), it definitely would hurt his chance to be reelected as a senator in 2013.
A Piece of Advice for Tito Sotto III
Make sure the letter of apology you will read is 100% plagiarism-free. Cite even old sources such as Plato because "we can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light" (Plato, n.d.).