Justice defends self from plagiarism raps

MANILA, Philippines – Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo has denied copying portions of foreign jurisprudence without proper attribution even as the Supreme Court (SC) convened its ethics committee to investigate the allegations of plagiarism.

The high court formed the ethics committee yesterday to investigate Del Castillo, the author of the SC decision on April 28 that denied the request of comfort women during the Japanese occupation urging the Philippine government to compel Tokyo to issue a public apology and provide compensation.

In a letter addressed to his colleagues on July 22, Del Castillo denied plagiarizing the decision.

“It must be emphasized that there was every intention to attribute all sources, whenever due. At no point was there any malicious intent to appropriate another’s work as our own,” he said.

Del Castillo stressed the foreign legal articles were incorporated in the April 28 decision since the case gained global attention.

He stressed the quotes from the foreign articles in the decision were “only appendages, or at the very least, provide small contribution to the resolution of the issues presented.”

“We incorporated foreign jurisprudence and sources because of the case’s international importance,” Del Castillo said.

In the same letter, Del Castillo stressed the case is still pending since the petitioner comfort women had filed a motion for reconsideration.

“This case has not yet attained finality,” he said. “In fact, it is pending resolution of the petitioners’ motion for reconsideration. As such, it is still within the power of the Court to reverse or amend its decision, if deemed appropriate by the Court en banc.”

Del Castillo argued that he did not violate any law in writing the decision.

He pointed out the law on intellectual property (Republic Act 8293) provides that “any use made of a work for the purpose of any judicial proceedings ... shall not constitute infringement of copyright.”

Nonetheless, Del Castillo offered his apologies for the “inconvenience, and for the diversion of attention from far more significant concerns.”

SC spokesman Midas Marquez said the high court decided to convene the ethics committee after receiving the letter from Del Castillo.

He said Chief Justice Renato Corona would head the ethics committee with Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro as vice chairperson.

Associate Justices Roberto Abad, Jose Mendoza and Jose Perez were chosen as members of the committee.

Marquez added a retired SC magistrate would be invited to observe the proceedings.

It would be the first time in the history of the high tribunal to form its ethics committee to investigate an erring member.

It would be a test case for the new committee, which was created as part of the internal rules of the Court in a resolution promulgated by the former chief justice Reynato Puno before he retired last May.

Marquez stressed the proceedings would be held with strict confidentiality.

The allegations stemmed from the ruling in the case of Isabelita Vinuya of Malaya Lolas Organization vs. Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, former Foreign Affairs secretary Delia Domingo Albert, former Justice secretary and now Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez and former Solicitor General Alfredo Benipayo.

In a supplemental motion for reconsideration filed by petitioners represented by University of the Philippines law professor Harry Roque Jr., they accused Del Castillo of lifting quotes and footnotes from foreign jurisprudence without any attribution to its authors.

Roque said the ruling quoted 31 parts of “A Fiduciary Theory of Jus Cogens” by Ivan Criddle and Evan Fox-Descent, published last year in the Yale Journal of International Law.

He also said the decision also quoted 24 parts of “Breaking the Silence on Rape as an International Crime” written by Mark Ellis, published 2006 in the Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law; and four parts of “Enforcing Erga Omnes Obligations in International Law” by Christian Tams, published in 2005.