By Marvin Sy (The Philippine Star) Updated October 29, 2010
MANILA, Philippines – Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile has joined calls for the Supreme Court to exercise judicial restraint in its move against faculty members of the University of the Philippines College of Law who had denounced and called for the resignation of a magistrate for plagiarism.
In a statement, Enrile said he felt compelled to air his position on the order issued by the Supreme Court for the faculty members to explain why they should not be cited for indirect contempt for denouncing Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo and calling for his resignation for committing plagiarism. The SC had earlier dismissed the complaint of plagiarism against Del Castillo.
“The Supreme Court, no less, being the final arbiter in the resolution of disputes that affect both individual and State rights, legal obligations and duties, must be protected against any act, even and more so by one of its own, which in any way would compromise, diminish or weaken its moral, intellectual and institutional integrity,” Enrile said.
Enrile noted that three international authors had called the attention of the SC to Del Castillo’s apparent plagiarism in the Vinuya et al vs. Executive Secretary case, which he penned.
But the plagiarized material was used to support conclusions that were an exact opposite of the messages contained in the original works.
“Plagiarism is a grievous affront not only to the Supreme Court itself but to the Philippine judicial system. To claim as one’s own the intellectual work of another without proper attribution is theft of intellectual property. Such practice has no place especially in the drafting, preparation, debates, discussions and decisions of our courts, most especially, the Supreme Court,” Enrile said.
“When the Highest Court’s attention was invited to the plagiarism, the public, not only academe, rightly expected that the Court would make sure that such reprehensible conduct would not be allowed to stain the Court’s reputation,” he added.
“The latest action of the Supreme Court, being just a step away from punishing those who wished to voice out and protest what they honestly believed to be a serious wrongdoing on the part of an Associate Justice and a mistake on the part of the Court, has only served to add pain to the aggrieved parties and to spark a fiery debate between the Court on the one hand, and the legal academe and their sympathizers among the members of the Bar and the public on the other,” Enrile said
Enrile said that the SC, by adopting the decision penned by Del Castillo, has made itself vulnerable to scorn.
“Freedom of expression which embraces academic freedom may be orphaned should our highest court choose to use its strong hand when it feels bruised or hurt, rather than to act as its faithful guardian,” Enrile said.
“Ultimately, it is the Supreme Court, acting as the stronghold of civil liberties and rising above its own frailties, which is in the best position to cleanse itself and its ranks and repair the damage brought upon its image before the nation and before the world,” he added.
At the House of Representatives, DIWA party-list Rep. Emmeline Aglipay, an alumna of the UP College of Law, introduced a resolution echoing Enrile’s call.
Aglipay urged the SC to “exercise the restraint in the face of criticism that it has in the past so often demanded from other government officials exposed to public scrutiny.”
“The Supreme Court Resolution risks creating an environment where the vehemence of the language of criticism can be made to overshadow whether or not such criticism actually interferes in any way with the administration of justice or the public good,” the resolution read.
“The Supreme Court as the highest court should above all other courts be the first to exercise restraint,” she said in her resolution.
“In this age of connectivity, the actions of the Supreme Court fall under greater scrutiny from the international legal and investing community interested in assurances that the administration of justice in the Philippines adheres to democratic values and generally accepted notions of fair play and equity,” she said.
“It is the right and obligation of Congress to exercise vigilance with regard to the exercise of the Supreme Court of its powers and prerogatives, consistent with the system of checks and balances that lies at the heart of our government,” she added. – With Paolo Romero
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