Anti-plagiarism forum: ‘Respect others’ work’

CEBU, Philippines – While there is no law directly penalizing plagiarism in the Philippines, students and media practitioners are urged to respect the work of others in coming up with their own.

This was the core message from lawyer Adoracion Zare from the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines and GMA News and Public Affairs Assistant Vice President Jaileen Jimeno during the forum “Cut and Paste: Plagiarism in the Internet Age” held at the Marcelo Fernan Press Center yesterday.

The forum was organized by The Freeman in line with the celebration of Cebu Press Freedom Week.

The speakers stressed that schools and news organizations must sanction their students and employees who commit acts of plagiarism.

Speaking as reactor, Prof. Mayette Tabada of the University of the Philippines – Cebu pointed out the importance of “doing one’s homework” before writing a research or a journalistic piece by reading on related and relevant studies and works and practice proper credits and attribution in order to develop the sense of discipline.

“When I do my homework, I develop a sense of respect to people who exert effort in doing research and proper citation,” she said, referring to her own experience when she worked on her Master’s thesis.

Prof. Nestor Ramirez of the University of San Jose – Recoletos, cited a time when a national documentary program asked for his permission to use a photo of his expose on illegal selling of turtle stew in Cebu City and lauded the effort of the production team.

“I don’t see any problem with plagiarism if only students listen to their teachers and mentors,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mia Embalzado, head of the communication program of Saint Theresa’s College, stressed the importance of timeliness of the topic in educating students.

“When I asked for permission from our dean that I will be bringing my class to this forum and she learned about the topic, she told me ‘bring the whole school if you want’,” she said.

In October 2012, Justice Secretary Leila De Lima issued an advisory, which stressed that plagiarism is a criminal offense because it violates the Intellectual Property Code and the E-Commerce Act or the Cybercrime Prevention Act.

The advisory cautioned: plagiarism should be avoided regardless of the presence of sanctions against it,  cultivate the habit of attribution, everyone can be a victim of plagiarism, always be vigilant in detecting such cases, encourage institutions to adopt anti-plagiarism measures.

“Plagiarism is a concept more understood in academic circles as an offense against academic integrity anathema to the strict standards of originality of scholarly works which members of the academic community subscribe to. However, recent events brought to fore the importance of knowing exactly what plagiarism is and to clarify the misconception that there is no crime of plagiarism under our laws,” the advisory reads.

Attending the forum were local media practitioners and journalism and communication students from UP, USJ-R, STC, Cebu Normal Univ ersity, Southwestern University, Benedicto College and University of San Carlos.

It was sponsored by Primary Homes, Mactan Rock Industries, and Pilipinas Water Resources Incorporated. —/JMO (FREEMAN)