Where the heart lies

The uproar created by some sectors of the Ateneo community over the alleged intellectual dishonesty of PLDT-Smart chairman Manny V. Pangilinan is something I find difficult to rationalize, appreciate or understand with my heart.

The furor and fuss are, simply put, out of whack. I don’t pretend to match the intellectual capacity of the faculty members who expressed outrage over MVP’s supposed plagiarism but I wonder if the loudest detractors ever think with their hearts.

In sports, you often hear experts admitting their mind tells them something different from what their heart says in predicting the outcome of a particular contest. You can try to dissociate the mind from the heart but at the end of the day, we’re just flesh and blood. We feel, bleed and die like any human being.

Personally, I find those nailing MVP to the cross as highly insensitive. Can anyone look at MVP squarely in the face and call him a cheat, a plagiarist and a symbol of dishonesty?

The whole issue revolves around MVP reading two commencement speeches at Ateneo graduation rites recently with unqualified portions lifted from previous remarks by the likes of Barack Obama, Conan O’Brien, Oprah Winfrey and J. K. Rowling. There probably wouldn’t be a basis to justify a crucifixion if the sources were cited but the fact is they weren’t.

Nobody doubts that MVP employs speechwriters just like any big businessman or captain of industry or even the President of the Philippines. The critics blame MVP for intellectual dishonesty by ascribing remarks in his speech as his own when in truth, they were others. MVP was pronounced guilty for making it appear that the remarks of Obama and company were his. Whether it was deliberate or intentional on MVP’s part to do it appears to be beside the point in the critics’ reckoning.

The speechwriters obviously went to the Internet or a library to research on past graduation speeches and liked what Obama and the others said in their remarks. They picked up portions from here and there, changed a few words in an attempt to disguise the paraphrasing and assembled a “new” speech for MVP. They didn’t count on being found out – which was their second mistake.

When the lifted portions were pointed out by a blogger in the Internet, MVP didn’t try to escape culpability by pointing to his speechwriters. He took the hit squarely on the jaw and like a man, apologized for it, saying he should’ve known better.

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I spoke to MVP about it after a PBA game at the Araneta Coliseum last week.

“It’s not that the speech was handed to me a few minutes before I read it,” said MVP. “I admit I was part of the process. I’m not the type to point fingers. The speechwriters are just starting out on their careers. It would be damaging to their future if their names were disclosed. I wouldn’t do that. That’s not my style.”

What caused MVP’s heart to bleed even more was how some sectors of the institution he loves with a passion cried out mercilessly for his blood. There was a clamor for MVP to return the honorary doctorate degree he received from the Ateneo.

MVP issued an apology and offered to resign his position as Ateneo chairman of the Board of Trustees. The Ateneo Board met and refused to accept his resignation. Then came an uproar from some faculty members castigating the Board for treating MVP with kid gloves, presumably because he is such a big supporter of Ateneo causes. In the end, MVP resigned from the Board unconditionally and also refused the honorary doctorate degree to prevent an escalation of the furor.

Does MVP deserve this kind of abuse? Is the fact that he wasn’t aware that portions of his commencement speeches were lifted really beside the point? Why the rabid attempt to tarnish the image of someone who has built a reputation of professionalism and integrity in business – is it crab mentality at work once more? Where is the sensitivity of judging this case taking into account every possible angle of consideration? Where do you draw the line between what is in the heart and what is in the mind?

Believe it or not, this issue has made it to the pages of the New York Times, the South China Morning Post and the Wall Street Journal – not because of the charge of plagiarism but because it involves MVP. It’s some measure of the degree of recognition that he has earned in the international community. How ironic that we Filipinos cause shame on our fellow Filipinos by ventilating issues before a global audience when they are best discussed within the confines of the homeland. Is washing dirty linen in public now a Filipino pasttime?

MVP has survived tougher battles in bloodier fields of confrontation and for sure, he’ll survive this. But surely, there is a lesson to be learned in this episode by even those who chose to throw stones.

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Meanwhile, the San Beda Red Lions basketball team – which MVP backs as he does the Blue Eagles – expressed support for its No. 1 fan in his latest trial.

 “We, from the San Beda Red Lions den, want to take this opportunity to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the support, love and friendship that you have so genuinely shown and generously given through the years,” said the team. “You have been a source of encouragement and great inspiration for all of us, a role model we can strive to be. Your leadership, we regard with much love and respect. Our lives have been touched and our future is now more hopeful because of your presence and guidance. We look forward to our time with you, our role model, as we continue our quest to learn and be better citizens in hopes that one day, we, too, will become great leaders in whatever fields and endeavors we go into, just as you have.”

MVP recently delivered a commencement address at the FEU graduation rites. He was warmly received by the graduates, faculty and administration. MVP had offered to beg off from speaking because of the Ateneo brouhaha but FEU president Dr. Lydia Echauz insisted on his appearance.

What probably pains MVP most in this incident was how callous and irreverent some sectors were in demanding for his head before even wondering how he felt being a victim of his speechwriters’ indiscretion. Worse was the reaction of other sectors asking if he would continue supporting the Ateneo despite the “indignation” instead of trying to understand his predicament.

MVP will be the first to admit he’s not perfect. Nobody in this world is. But he has made his positive mark and continues to make his significant mark in business, sports and yes, education. Conscienceless speechwriters or his fiercest detractors won’t ever be able to take that away from him.