No such crime as plagiarism, says impeached SC justice

MANILA, Philippines -Supreme Court (SC) Justice Mariano del Castillo, who is facing an impeachment complaint before the House of Representatives for alleged plagiarism, said yesterday there is no such crime as plagiarism.

Speaking through his lawyer Louie Ogsimer, Del Castillo said, “There is no law that has been passed by Congress which criminalizes plagiarism.”

“There is no such crime. This is not bribery, this is not culpable violation of the Constitution, this is not high crime,” he told the House committee on justice.

He said the impeachment complaint filed against him by several “comfort women” during the Japanese occupation “is actually a claim to reverse a decision of the SC” that is adverse to the complainants.

“If we allow this to happen, every party litigant in the Supreme Court who loses will come to this honorable House and file an impeachment case against each and every justice,” he added.

Del Castillo was not able to attend yesterday’s hearing because he was set to have a procedure in preparation for his second heart bypass surgery scheduled on Feb. 27.

He is accused of plagiarizing three foreign authors in writing an SC decision dismissing the reparation claims of Filipino women abused by Japanese soldiers during World War II.

In asserting that plagiarism is not a crime, Ogsimer said his client is not admitting that he copied the work of the three foreign authors.

He said De Castillo had footnotes in the decision he wrote acknowledging the authors whose views he quoted.

He furnished the committee a copy of a SC ethics committee report clearing his client of plagiarism.

During the hearing, principal complainant Isabelita Vinuya told the committee that she and the other complainants did not want Del Castillo removed from office.

“What we want is that the injustice done to us by the wrong decision of the Supreme Court be corrected. We are seeking justice for what we suffered during the Japanese occupation,” she said in Filipino.

Upon questioning by Zambales Rep. Mitos Magsaysay, she later said she would like Del Castillo removed if the high court does not reverse its decision “so that the plagiarism he committed would not be repeated.”

Magsaysay and some members of the committee said the complainants apparently went to the wrong forum in wanting to seek a reversal of an adverse SC decision.

Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., committee chairman, said his panel would hold a final hearing on Tuesday to vote on the impeachment case against Del Castillo.