OPAPP looks into another lifted photo

MANILA, Philippines - Is he an incorrigible photo thief?

Netizens have set up a website dedicated to photos believed lifted from various sites and presented by public administration student Mark Joseph Solis as his own.

The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process is currently reviewing one of the photos, which won for Solis the top prize in OPAPP’s “Say Peace Photo Contest” in 2011.

The photo features a boy with hands clasped in front of his face, which Solis said was taken in Koronadal, South Cotabato.

OPAPP’s Facebook page said the photo was titled “Humanizing Peace” with the caption: Peace building is more than just about ending conflicts or mounting the defenses of peace today. It’s also about ensuring that the younger generation gets their equal fighting chance in living the life they deserve.

The website http://diversityhuman.com/hollywood/index.php/Friend-Blogs/up-graduate-mark-joseph-solis-list-of-stolen-flickr-photos noted that the photo appeared on the Flickr page of one Alexandre Sattler, with a caption “Annapurna, nepal, upper mustang.”

OPAPP legal and security unit head Jomer Aquino said the agency is investigating whether Solis lifted the photo from someone else.

Aquino said OPAPP would not hesitate to exercise legal options to rectify the wrong done by Solis.

The political science graduate and public administration student of the University of the Philippines also entered a photo that he claimed he took in Zamboanga in a contest organized by the embassy of Chile.

The photo, which won first prize in the “Calidad Humana” photo and essay contest, turned out to have been taken in Rio de Janeiro in 2006 by Gregory John Smith, a Brazil-based social entrepreneur and founder of Children at Risk Foundation.

Solis, 22, claimed the photo was of a boy from Zamboanga City helping his father gather seaweed.

Organizers of the contest stripped Solis of the prize.

The website featuring Solis’ other supposedly stolen pieces also showed a photo of rainwater tanks with the title “Harvesting Rainwater,” which appeared in the Flickr account of one David Urquhart captioned “Rainwater tanks.”

Another photo, which appeared on the BBC news website, shows a paralympic track and field athlete, which Solis allegedly stole in 2008. It appeared in the Flickr account of a certain jackdog25608.

Still another photo shows a boy with a caption stating that he “delightfully swims in a river replenished by rainwater in Myanmar,” taken in 2011.

Other winning entries

Meanwhile, the fact-finding committee that UP has created to investigate Solis’ entry in the Calidad Humana “Smiles for the World” contest may also look into his other supposed works.

Dean Maria Fe Mendoza of the UP National College of Public Administration and Governance (NCPAG) said the committee will focus on the lifted image, but may also look into his other works if there are people who will come forward and provide information.

UP vce president for public affairs J. Prospero de Vera said the fact-finding committee, which was formed on Monday, was given until Oct. 4 to come up with findings on the case of Solis, who earlier apologized for submitting a photo he lifted from Flickr.

Mendoza said the committee is tasked to establish the facts, chronology of events and the digital footprint of the photo; recommend the next step that the college will take, and suggest measures to ensure that the incident will not be repeated.

De Vera clarified that the committee would not decide on the guilt or innocence of Solis, but simply gather facts for actions that would be recommended to the NCPAG.

He said a student tribunal would be convened in case the committee recommends the filing of a case against Solis to ensure that the student would be accorded due process.

Expulsion

De Vera said UP could not act arbitrarily on suggestions that Solis be stripped of his bachelor’s degree in political science.

“There is a process involved in as far as taking back degrees because that is given by the Board of Regents,” he said. “The board will have to act on it based on a complaint, based on an investigation, and based on the use of due process through the student disciplinary tribunal.”

So far, no complaint has been filed against Solis.

Mendoza said the committee could either recommend the filing of an administrative case or let the incident pass if they think Solis did not violate university rules.

UP Diliman chancellor Caesar Saloma said they are revising UP’s student rules and regulations. He said consultations are still ongoing on the 2012 Code of Student Conduct, a draft of which was posted on the UP website.

The 2010 Student Guide, which remains in effect, includes the 1998 rules and regulations on student conduct and discipline. Among others, it states that “students shall at all times observe the laws of the land and the rules and regulations of the university.”

While specific acts of misconduct that would warrant disciplinary measures are listed, the rules do not mention specific penalties for those who violate the laws of the land.

On intellectual property, section 2(a) of the 1998 rules prohibits “any form of cheating in examinations or any act of dishonesty in relation to… studies.”

Violators face suspension of not less than one year. They are also barred from graduating with honors.

Mendoza said dishonesty was not committed in the case of Solis’ studies.

Reputation of the university

De Vera said they would “look at the pertinent rules of the university” as the code does not specifically cover dishonesty committed outside UP.

“But then, (the incident) affects the reputation of the university,” he said.

Mendoza said there is no specific punishment for a student found to have tainted the reputation of the university in the 1998 rules, but it may be classified under section 2(m), which states that “any other form of misconduct” is prohibited in the university.

Penalties range from an expression of apology to expulsion.

The proposed 2012 Code of Student Conduct penalizes any form of misconduct, whether within or outside university premises, which affects the good order and welfare or good name of the university, from admonition to expulsion, with possible corrective measure of disqualification from graduation with honors.

The 2012 code also penalizes plagiarism – defined as “the appropriation of another person’s ideas, processes, results or words without giving appropriate credit” – with suspension for one semester for the first offense, and expulsion for the second offense.

Intellectual dishonesty in the 2012 code is also not limited in relation to the students’ studies, but includes “any fraudulent act performed by a student to achieve academic advantage or gain for oneself or others.”

Saddened

Mendoza said she is saddened by the incident, noting how “promising” Solis was.

A resumé Solis furnished The STAR during the awarding of the Calidad Humana photo contest last week showed he was conferred various academic scholarship grants for exemplary academic performance.

He also participated in various debate competitions in Southeast Asia, and presented his papers at different symposia.

The NCPAG dean said she hopes that Solis will be able to bounce back and learn from the incident.

A UP professor, meanwhile, clarified that Solis is not his teaching assistant.

Former NCPAG dean Alex Brillantes said Solis was never his teaching assistant, contrary to a report in The STAR yesterday.

Brillantes said Solis was a student in their college and a volunteer for the Philippine Society for Public Administration.

"We have many volunteers," Brillantes said.